


Throw Me a Bone Here, I'm Trying My Best

by randomassuser



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Depressed Reader(?), Depressed skelebois, Eating Disorders, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Oh boy family issues, Only little mentions of Eating Disorders in the beginning, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reader is not Frisk or Chara, Reader is short lmao, Shameless semi self insert, Spiraling into depression, i really should be sleeping, reader is female, tags are really hard, what is my life, where do I even start
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 43,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22235491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomassuser/pseuds/randomassuser
Summary: Your life hadn’t been the best, but when you meet Sans and Papyrus, things get a lot more interesting. After an accident with a mysterious machine, you’re left with three sets of the brothers, a now full apartment, and one hell of an empty wallet. But what happens when the accident that brought them here is much bigger than any of you realized? When the multiverse is threatened with total destruction, apparently things can only get crazier.TWs: Do not read if you are sensitive to content including Eating Disorders, Depression, Abuse, and Emotional Trauma10/22 THANK Y'ALL FOR 200 KUDOS OML((A BIG SHOUT OUT TO MY BETA READER, THE LOVELY Lavender_Hope ! THEY ARE DOING A WONDERFUL JOB HELPING WITH THE SMOOTHNESS OF THE FIC AND PLOT HOLES, SO PLEASE VISIT THEM!!))
Relationships: Papyrus (Underswap)/Reader, Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Papyrus (underfell)/reader, Sans (Underfell)/Reader, Sans (Underswap)/Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 44
Kudos: 241





	1. Prologue

The shorter skeleton looked around skeptically as he let his pinpricks adjust to the blinding light that shone on the group. He watched in awe as the sun in the distance came into focus. It was, quite literally, what brightened his day right there. The kid was excitedly pointing out things to Papyrus and Undyne, whilst Alphys, Asgore and Toriel observed from the side. Sans looked down the cliff, and sat down to observe for a little bit.

There was a valley below them, overwhelmed with greenery that threatened to climb up the mountain. Some of it had already started, but mostly ivy and other vines that had no trouble growing on the rough cliff. Mountains surrounded the valley, with a city near the far side of the area. He thought it was beautiful, with the golden light of the sun covering it all. 

Papyrus walked over, sitting next to Sans and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “BROTHER, DO YOU THINK WE’LL FIT IN ON THE SURFACE?” He asked, giving him a side hug while looking at the distant town. Frisk settled down on the other side of Sans. He gave them a look of uneasiness. 

Would they be alright? 

When he thought about it, there probably would be an uproar due to the fact that a race that hasn’t been on the surface for hundreds of years, suddenly appeared with a little kid as their human representative. The odds didn’t really seem to be in their favor in this situation. He blinked, and the kid gave him a nod in response, smiling brightly. If they had confidence in the future, then maybe he should too.

Sans nodded. “yeah paps, i think we’ll be just fine. the kid seems to think so too, right?” He ruffled their hair, watching them giggle at the action.

Papyrus brightened at this remark. “YOU REALLY THINK SO?” He stood up. “THEN I THINK WE SHOULD GET A HEAD START AT GREETING THE OTHER HUMANS NOW!” He picked Frisk up and put them on their shoulders, jumping excitedly before rushing down the mountain.

Sans sighed, fixing his hoodie before teleporting down to meet them at the end of the path. This would definitely be interesting for the monster race, and even more history-changing for humans waiting before them.


	2. So It May Be Downpouring, But I've Got You Covered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a slow rainy day. With no one around to help, you meet some new monsters and make quick friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the support on the Prologue so far! I want to update this as frequently as I can, so I have dedicated Mondays as my regular upload time, and Thursdays if I'm extra motivated, or just feeling generous. Please enjoy!

You turned off the TV with a sigh, opting to go on your laptop and browse Youtube instead. The media was crowded with the sudden arrival of monsters, even though it’s been a few months since then. Honestly, you had no intent of judging them before you even meet one. Hopefully you’ll have that opportunity to in the monster city, Ebott City.

Being able to take out a loan for your new cafe on the corner of two streets, you gladly bought the rundown place in order to clean it up for yourself. This was your dream, and Ebott City had by far the cheapest prices you had seen around the area. You were looking forward to making it a place where everyone was welcome. Even going as far as doing everything yourself, from painting the walls, to cleaning up the kitchen, making new signs for menus, and designing posters. You also planned to work at the register and do all of the cooking for now.

Was it a great idea?

Not really!

But you were prepared to take on the workload. It wouldn’t pay off if you didn’t put in time and effort anyways, right? If you desperately needed help, you would totally hire someone. For now, though, you were well off on your own.

The cafe was a simple one, with white walls all around except for the one behind the counter, which was a calming yellow. Several brown, wooden tables were placed around the dining area with chairs that had matching wood and baby pink cushioning. There were higher tables connected to the walls, with chairs set up below them as well. Windows covered the full wall in the front, and two glass doors were there to welcome the world in.

The menu was a sign that hung behind you for drinks, with different kinds of desserts and breakfast pastries on display below the counter. It was overall a nice atmosphere. At least, you liked to think that.

Your family didn’t like the idea so much, but you decided to anyways, because you liked to think unconditional family ‘love’ was a thing. 

They just told you to stay away from monsters, but you already planned on ignoring their advice. You were a perfectly capable twenty-two year old, and had worked three different jobs for the past year to get to where you are now. In the end, you’d like to think that they’d be alright with it.

You moved into the three story apartment above the cafe. It had four bedrooms, a small kitchen, and two bathrooms, plus a living room residing next to the stairs. You barely used most of the space, but had it furnished anyways, just in case you had friends or family over. You had just enough for a person to live there but not much else. You really were pushing your budget with this one.

It wasn’t a problem though. You don't have anyone around to judge your lack of personal belongings anyway.

After about an hour of browsing, you stretched and closed your laptop, then went to get dressed for work. It was Sunday, meaning you opened at noon. At least, for now. You’d eventually change that once you were used to the schedule you were attempting to implement. 

Not bothering to get some lunch, recalling you ate a few hours ago, you went downstairs and unlocked the front doors, shortly getting the dough you prepared last night out of the freezer. The sky was relatively cloudy today, but bright enough that you didn’t have to turn on the lights and up your electric bill at the end of the month. You started the first batch of pastries in the oven, made fresh icing, and put them on display for the day.

You started up the coffee, and took your place behind the register, taking orders every now and then whenever someone came in to check the place out. You even met your first monster customers and made sure to treat them kindly so they knew they were welcome.

You were cleaning up a table when thunder shook the building, starling you a bit as your head whipped to the front door. Rain was pouring down on the street, hitting the front windows of the cafe as well. You tilted your head at the sudden change in weather, but shrugged it off. Instead, you focused on the two incoming figures outside. You watched the taller one open the door, the shorter one slung over his shoulder. The short one looked relaxed and not at all bothered by the fact he was being carried like that.

One thing you instantly saw was that they were monsters, skeletons to be specific. You let out a slight gasp, seeing as they were quite literally soaked to the bone by the mid-September rain.

“O-oh! Here, let me get you guys some towels!” You said, rushing into the kitchen.

The skeletons didn’t have the time to respond before you came back and offered them towels. The taller one set his shorter companion down, taking the towels with a smile on his face. “WHY THANK YOU, HUMAN! THESE TOWELS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!”

“yeah, we were really soaked to the bone, there.”

You blinked.

Holy fuck.

Not only was the first skeleton absolutely precious, but the second one made the same pun you had two seconds ago.

This was already amazing.

You quickly caught yourself, offering a response. “Oh, of course! I-I’m happy to help.” You gave him a nervous smile, rubbing the back of your neck. Papyrus returned it with a grateful smile of his own as he dried off his head- er, skull? You guessed skull would be the better phrasing.

You decided to properly greet him, holding out your hand for the skeleton to shake as you spoke. “My name is (Y/n), what’s yours? A-and what brings you here?” 

The skeleton gladly accepted your handshake, and then proceeded to introduce himself, along with his brother, Sans, who didn’t seem too keen on talking to you yet. Seems like he wanted to watch for a little bit. “Well, it’s nice to meet you both. Would you guys like anything to drink?” 

“OH, I DON’T THINK WE HAVE ANY MONEY... “ The skeleton drifted off, disappointed.

“How about, these ones are on the house? You both did just come in from the pouring rain. I wouldn’t want either of you getting sick. If you can..” You muttered the last part. But nonetheless, the skeletons smiled, Sans’ permanent grin growing wider than you thought it could.

“you sure, kid? we could always come back another time with money.”

You nodded. “Yeah, why not? I want an excuse to get to know you guys anyways.” You chuckled, going to make their requests while they sat down at a table. Smiling, you returned with their orders and set them down along with some donuts.

“THANK YOU, HUMAN (Y/N)! THESE REFRESHMENTS AND DONUTS LOOK VERY GOOD!” Papyrus said excitedly, before picking his up and starting on the drink.

Sans watched his brother, before sighing in contentment and picking up his own food and drink, joining the conversation every now and then. He was more of an observer, so it worked out with Papyrus being so loud.

You and Papyrus kept the conversation going for a while, learning a lot about each other in the meantime. Asking everything from ‘What’s your favorite color?’, to things like ‘WHY DO YOU LIVE HERE?’. You had nowhere near the amount of energy that the taller skeleton showed, but you were able to keep up nonetheless. Though you knew that your motivation and will to move would be nonexistent, later.

That was alright, since you were having a great time. And since the rain didn’t seem to be letting up, there wasn’t anyone to serve or to interrupt your guys’ fun.

You looked at the time, seeing that it was about three o’clock. 

“Do you guys have anywhere to be after this?” You asked, looking towards Sans. He made an ‘urk’ sound, his eyelights going dark with surprise. Mettaton was not one of the monsters he was fond of.

Papyrus sighed, but then laughed at his brother. “INDEED, WE DO! WE HAVE A METTATON SHOW TO GET TO AT FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON!”

You nodded, exiting your seat to go behind the counter for a moment. “You guys should probably head out then. It’ll take a bit to get through the rain.”

Papyrus nodded, jumping to his feet. “SHE IS RIGHT, SANS! WE MUST GO IMMEDIATELY!” He threw their garbage in the trash and returned to their table, before Sans stood up as well.

You walked over, an umbrella in hand. “Here, take this! I’m sure it'll be useful.” 

“OH! THANK YOU! IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO TO SHOW MY APPRECIATION?” Papyrus said, taking the umbrella and shuffling around his scarf for something.

“Oh no, you don’t have to-” 

“YES! I WILL GIVE YOU MY PHONE NUMBER! THEN SURELY WE COULD HANG OUT AGAIN!” Papyrus said, handing his phone to you with his number pulled up.

You laughed, taking out your own and putting it in. “Alright, I guess that’s fine then. I would be honored to hang out with the Great Papyrus again!” You gave a slight bow while giggling, and Sans chuckled. 

“we should head out, bro.” He turned to you and said, “see you later, kid,” giving you a wink as they made their way out the door. You turned bright red and he burst into laughter as they left, unable to hold it back. 

You took in the empty cafe around you, sighing as you retreated to the room with cleaning supplies. Well, that was interesting. For now, you should really mop and close for the day, as it didn’t seem like anyone would be coming to your cafe anytime soon. You smiled at the trail of water that the skeleton brothers had first left when they entered your shop.


	3. Sorry For Blowing You Away, I Wasn't Thinking Straight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So some things happen, and now you have some new guests in your house.

**_CoolSkeleton95 updated his status._ **

_ CAN’T WAIT FOR MY FRIEND TO COME OVER TODAY!!! _

**_throwmeabone replied to CoolSkeleton95’s status._ **

_ i’m positive this is going to be sansational _

**_WhyDoIExist replied to throwmeabone’s reply._ **

_ Sans, I love you, but that one was too much to bear. It wasn’t even humorous. _

**_throwmeabone replied to WhyDoIExist’s reply._ **

_ do i sense a pun there _

**_CoolSkeleton95 replied to throwmeabone’s reply._ **

_ OH MY GOD SANS, WHY. _

  
  


You facepalmed at Sans’ antics, sighing as you locked the doors to your cafe. Today was Saturday, and it was currently almost eight at night. You had spent the past few weeks getting to know the skeleton brothers, and now they were some of your best friends. Throwing your bag over your shoulder, you started towards their place for a sleepover. 

They lived surprisingly close to your apartment. You didn’t even have much trouble getting there, it was just walking up five flights of stairs in the monster apartment complex that pissed you off to all hell and back.

When you finally got up to their apartment, Papyrus was already at the door, opening it the moment you knocked. He had been really excited for your first sleepover. Your friend was in a light grey tank top, some black and gray joggers with black socks, and his signature scarf and gloves to top off the look. You deemed it absolutely adorable. 

Sans was on the couch, wearing his usual outfit. He’d been dozing off between flipping channels on the TV, shutting it off altogether when you arrived.

“hey kid, glad you could come.” Sans said, giving you a lazy grin. “paps has been bouncing off the walls all day, saying he couldn’t wait.”

You smiled and gave him a half assed fist bump like always. “I’m glad that you guys have been excited. I brought some movies we could watch, along with an extra blanket and pillow for a fort.” 

Sans gave a thumbs up, glancing at the clock on the wall. “paps, i’m gonna go work on the thing. keep her company?” He gestured to you when he spoke.

“OF COURSE, BROTHER! I BID YOU GOOD LUCK ON YOUR PROJECT!” Papyrus happily stated, before taking your jacket and hanging it by the door with the others. “(Y/N) AND I SHALL HAVE A GREAT TIME WHILE YOU WORK!” And with that, Sans disappeared into his room, going to do what he had been trying to do for a while now.

He really couldn’t get the dumb thing to work. 

The machine had been taken over to their place and resided in Sans’ underused room at the end of the hall. It was there because he refused to give up on the project. Just knowing the secret that was hidden behind it was bone chilling. Heh.

But he had absolutely no skills in mechanics; he was teaching himself along the way. Now, the math behind it, and how it would go across doing it’s job? He was able to do that with no problem. Sans was quite skilled in the quantum physics department, if he had to say so. Now though, with no one to help him, he was just left to tinker with it every night, figuring it out bit by excruciatingly slow bit.

It really sucked.

Back in the living room, you and Papyrus were having a great time. Both of you had built a pillow fort and were now watching Big Hero 6. Even though you were indifferent to most movies that Disney put out, you were able to enjoy all of them while watching with someone else. 

After building the pillow fort, you and Papyrus were stretched out on the couch. Said fort was simple enough, you had pillows stacked up all around you as a protective wall, with a large blanket secured on top to act like a roof. It made for a nice and cozy area for movie watching. Currently, you laid yourself over Papyrus’ lap, while the skeleton sat upright like a normal person.

He had placed his arm behind your back so nothing blocked your view of the TV, absentmindedly rubbing your side. Neither of you minded the positions, as you both were very affectionate people. Physical interaction with others was something you did on a daily basis, even if it wasn't within a relationship. It was a concept that both of you knew well and personally loved. 

Both of you had your attention on the movie for a majority of the time, and you grinned when the credits eventually rolled.

“That was pretty good, Paps. What movie do you wanna watch next?” You got up to retrieve the bag of movies you brought. “Maybe Inside Out, or Tangled? I’m sure you’ll also like Aladdin, it’s one of my favorites.” You looked at him, waiting for a response.

“HM… HOW ABOUT ALADDIN! AFTER ALL, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO WATCH YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE AS WELL!” Papyrus said, giving you a wide grin.

“Aww, alright. That sounds good to me!” You said, almost gushing over how considerate he was.

You were getting the movie out when the floor began to shake, strong enough to throw you off balance. You took a glance at Papyrus, and could tell immediately that something was wrong. “Paps, what’s going on-” 

Sans appeared out of nowhere, his sockets dark and dread visible on his skull. “we have to get out,  **_now_ ** .” He took your hand and his brother's, and in an instant, the three of you were outside the apartment building. You felt the usual wave of nausea that followed one of Sans' shortcuts and looked to him for an explanation.

“i made a mistake.” He hesitantly admitted, looking at you with eyelights that had shrunk to pinpricks. 

“SANS, WHAT DO YOU MEAN?” Papyrus shifted his attention to his brother, worry present in his eyes. 

There was a bright flash, followed by a foundation shaking boom. Cracks made themselves prominent on the concrete exterior, and glass rained down from the windows of the skeleton brothers’ apartment. You stared in awe, shock running through your body, and listened as the chaos slowed down to allow silence to take over. You could faintly hear the panicked screams of others in the apartment, but it quickly died down when they rushed out of the building. Monsters and humans start to gather from the surrounding area, pointing and trying to decode what had happened.

“.... I think that’s what he means, Papyrus.” You said, a stunned expression plastered on your face. You pulled your phone from your pocket, calling up the authorities and leading the boys to a bench on the sidewalk. After carefully explaining what had gone on, the dispatcher on the phone told you and your friends to remain calm, and promised authorities would be there as soon as possible. After hanging up, you whipped around to face Sans.

“Sans, excuse my profanity, but what the fuck happened?!” You said, glancing back at the building while the first responders started to arrive. Huh, convenient.

The shorter skeleton looked down at the ground with shame in his eyes. He glanced up, and sighed. “i’ve been trying to get this old machine to work for a while. i didn’t think it’d end up like this, i’m sorry kid.” He nervously replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“What do you mean, ‘machine’?” You questioned, raising an eyebrow. He started to sweat as he tried to come up with an answer.

“uh, it may or may not have been something that i was tinkering with, which always had the chance to explode. it really  _ blew _ me away there, though. heh.”

You sighed, covering your face with your hands. “Sans, you really could have gotten hurt there, and you’re making puns now? You’re ridiculous.” He looked at the ground, seeing that he may or may not have fucked up everything.

Papyrus took the initiative this time, giving his brother a hug.

“I’m Just Glad You’re Okay, Sans.” He said, and Sans gave a small grin.

“That’s true. At least all of us are alright.” You looked at the apartment, observing the building as people were glancing over at the three of you. A monster and human group wasn’t exactly common, you guessed. “I don’t think your home is exactly, ‘okay’ though…” 

Papyrus looked up at their home, a hint of sadness in his eyes. You couldn’t blame him, to be honest. It was only natural to be sad over the loss of a home.

You turned to see a policeman approaching. You gulped nervously. 

“Miss, were you the one who made the call to the authorities?” He said, scanning you up and down with a stern face. You hesitantly nodded at the man, the ground becoming the most intriguing place in the world.

“Can you tell us what happened?”

You cannot confirm NOR deny the fact that you sprinkled in a little lie saying that the explosion had just spontaneously happened, and leaving out the machine's part in it. Telling the truth would lead to Sans and Papyrus getting into more trouble than it was worth, is what you decided. Hopefully you didn’t fuck up lying though.

“Well, I’d like to thank you for making the call in the first place. It’s greatly appreciated.” He gave a small smile, but it quickly faded. “We would like to let you know that the incident has not done any damage to anything other than the apartment it took place in, but it will be uninhabitable for the time being. What caused this was most likely a gas leak, from what the first responders reported after searching the building.” He looked past you.

“Are you the ones who live here?” 

The skeletons nodded.

“Since it was the city that had administered the building of this complex, it will be fully covered and fixed as soon as possible. But you will have to find somewhere else to live for now, until the issue that caused this has been dealt with. Thank you for your cooperation.” He quickly walked off, going to reassure others that everything was alright and taken care of. That was a very… Weird conversation, if you had to say so yourself.

Reporters were already starting to line up and investigate the incident, eager to get the latest story for the news. Ugh.

You’d already made a decision, and before either of the brothers had the chance to speak up, you said, “Alright, knuckleheads, come on. I think you guys have been through enough for tonight.” 

You were given stares of confusion. 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, (Y/N)? WE DON’T HAVE ANYWHERE TO LIVE NOW.” Papyrus said, standing up from the bench.

“I mean come on, you two are gonna be staying with me. That is, if you want to. I won’t force you to.” You gave a nervous chuckle, before seeing Sans let out a sigh of relief.

“are ya sure kid? don’t wanna be an inconvenience to you or anything.”

“I’m sure you won’t be, Sans.” 

“THEN, LEAD THE WAY, (Y/N)! WE WILL BE GLAD TO FOLLOW YOU!” Papyrus chimed in, his smile quickly returning. It was amazing at how positive he could be in bad situations.

When you arrived at the cafe, you took the back entrance up. You could have sworn you saw someone moving in the shadows, but brushed it off as you being tired from the events of tonight. It had been draining for all three of you.

You opened the door for your guests, letting them observe the apartment in awe. They had only seen your cafe before, but your apartment was huge compared to it. Three stories gave you a lot of space, after all. It did seem short in comparison to the buildings beside it, though, which was kind of a good thing for the electric bill and what not.

Sans and Papyrus claimed a room, and quickly settled in. They wanted to sleep, so you all agreed to talk in the morning.

You wanted to sleep as well, but you walked into your room to see someone standing next to your bed, seemingly interested in the posters you had hanging on the walls around it. You weren’t dealing with this bullshit, nope, not a chance. The figure was a little taller than you, about around the same height as Sans. It was dark, so you couldn’t see much more than their height. 

You crept in and quickly struck them with a kick to the leg, causing the figure to lose their balance. You turned on the light.

“Are you for fucking real?!” 

Laying on the ground, sputtering curses left and right, was a seemingly edgier version of Sans. That’s it. That’s the only way you could describe him. His sharp teeth were brought out even further with the gold tooth there, and his black jacket stood out among the wooden floor. “th’ fuck was that for, lady!?” He snarled, locking eyes with you.

“Why the fuck is some My Chemical Romance rip off of Sans doing in my room?!” You yelled back, getting ready for a fight if the skeleton decided to take a hostile initiative.

“if you both calm down, i can explain what seems to be going on.” Another skeleton was in your room now, who appeared to be Papyrus if he was trying to impersonate Sans. He was taller than your Papyrus for sure, but slouched in a way that made him less intimidating. He took the bear shaped bottle of honey away from his mouth and focused on the My Chemical Romance Sans. “you and i, buddy, are in another universe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEYO! CHAPTER 2 IS UP! I'm so excited that we are getting into some actual plot now. I wanted to take the first couple chapters to set up the world, introduce the first brothers so it wouldn't be fit into one chapter. And thank you to my wonderful Beta, the chapter quality has increased from here on out! Thank you for reading!


	4. Well, These Four Impastas are Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, you certainly get to meet some new friends(?). Nicknames are also given!

“ah? th’ hell you talkin’ ‘bout, lanky?” MCR stated, raising a brow bone at the newly dubbed ‘Lanky’. Lanky took a swig of his honey bottle, sighing. He looked around, almost like he was anticipating something, but refocused his attention to the edgy skeleton that was still on the floor.

A scream erupted from outside, and you turned back to see a small skeleton running down the hall, a taller one after him. The small skeleton had tears in his eye sockets, which you didn’t take for a good sign.

“PAPY!! WHERE ARE YOU?!” Distress was very prominent in his voice. Lanky appeared in front of you, catching the small skeleton in a hug as the taller one halted. 

“UNHAND HIM. I HAVE QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ANSWERED, AND THAT BLUE MENACE IS THE ONLY ONE HERE THAT SEEMS EASY TO GET ANSWERS OUT OF.”

The taller skeleton, who also resembled Papyrus, only edgier, reached a hand towards them. Lanky flinched at the action, but you slapped his hand away, gaining enough confidence and anger to intervene between the three. “I don’t think so, Green Day.” You chuckled to yourself at the nickname. Your victory was cut short by Green Day grabbing the collar of your shirt, and lifting you off the ground.

“UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE PULVERIZED, I SUGGEST YOU. BACK. OFF.” He growled, holding you out further so that your kicking legs didn’t hit his long, jean covered ones.

Your confidence starts to drain quickly.

“A-and watch you bully these two into submission? I-I don’t t-think so.”

“WRONG ANSWER, HUMAN.”

You were slammed against the wall, and out of the corner of your eye, you saw Sans and Papyrus burst into the hallway. Blue magic enveloped Green Day, forcing him to release you and making him collapse to the ground with a loud grunt. “bad decision, pal. now you’ve gone and made me mad.”

Sans’ eye flared to life, his grin intensifying into a glare instead. 

You coughed, glad that you weren’t being held up almost three feet off of the ground now. “HEY! Will everyone calm down?! Absolutely NO KILLING in MY house!” You yelled, and all heads immediately turned to you. MCR was leaning against your doorway, listening in.

You looked at Lanky. “Are you and blue boy alright?”

As your voice shrunk back down to almost a whisper, you saw Lanky visibly relax a bit, before picking his brother up and standing to his full height. “yeah, thanks kid. i appreciate that.” He leaned against the wall in the hallway.

“Good.” Turning to Sans and Papyrus, you gestured for them to come toward the group. 

Papyrus ran up to you, crouching down so he could meet with you eye to eye. “ARE YOU ALRIGHT, (Y/N)?? THAT LOOKED LIKE IT HURT…”

You nodded in response, and gave a warm smile. “Thank you for worrying, but I’m fine. Just knocked the wind out of me is all.” The skeleton nodded, before standing up straight and shuffling next to you. Sans took his place on your other side, and you sighed.

“So, does anyone have any idea on what’s going on here?” You asked. 

There was a short pause before Lanky spoke up.

“well, like i said, me, my bro, and those two aren’t from this universe. obviously.” He replied. “that confirms my timeline theory i’ve been speculating about for a while now…” He muttered to himself. Sans seemed surprised, before speaking up.

“oh crap.” He looked at Lanky. “that was my machine. no wonder there are all these  _ impastas _ here. you all don’t exactly seem to be a part of my daily  _ rotini. _ ” You could hear Papyrus groan from the pun.

MCR almost burst out laughing, but held back for the sake of everyone’s sanity. Green Day stood up, dusting himself off before clearing his nonexistent throat. Your eyebrow rose at this. “SO, THIS IS  _ YOUR _ FAULT.” He jabbed a finger in Sans’ direction, voice laced with venom. Sans discreetly got ready to use his magic if things went south again.

“Hey.” You interjected, glaring slightly at Green Day. “It wasn’t his fault. Besides, they lost their home as well when the machine exploded. I’m sure Sans feels just as bad as you do.”

Green Day backed down a little, but his pinpricks remained on the skeleton next to you. 

“so, what are ya gonna do now, sweetheart?” MCR asked from the doorway, seemingly let down by the chaos ceasing. You tilted your head at his question. “a mysterious machine made some strange clones of yer pals appear here. and s’not like yer obligated to take us in. we ain’t yer responsibility. ya gonna kick us out or what?”

You thought for a moment… Ah, what the hell.

You already had one set of brothers, might as well have the others living with you. But, you’d have to make sure they all got fed, had rooms, and didn’t mess up your shit. How hard could it be?

“You really think I’m gonna kick you guys out? Fortunately, I’m not. You guys would be walking targets for both humans and monsters.” You sighed. Unfortunately, you did have a point. Seeing multiple versions of Sans and Papyrus walking around on the streets would either cause the city to raise a lot of questions, or raise their weapons against the skeleton’s unusual duplicates.

Sans looked at you. How could one human be so kind? To let not only him and his brother, but four more monsters live with her all in one night. His soul hummed joyfully at the thought. 

“Alright, I’m sure we’re all tired. Paps, can you show these guys the available rooms to choose from? I’d very much appreciate it.” 

Papyrus smiled and nodded, giving a small salute before telling the other skeletons to follow him. You turned to Sans, who watched as they all passed through the hallway. “You good?”

The short skeleton snapped out of his daze. “yeah kid, i’m fine. just tired is all. didn’t think the machine would cause this much damage to the timelines.” Timelines? Alright, that’s a new one. You made a mental note to ask about that later. You’re too tired right now.

You sighed, holding your arms out to him. “Hugs make everything better. Want one?”

He grinned lazily, trudging over to you as he accepted the hug. You squeezed him a bit, taking his relaxing form as a sign of enjoyment. He actually enjoyed it to the point that he had fallen asleep in your arms. Standing.

Right.

You could hear him snoring, and chuckled at the skeleton. “Sansy, you fell asleep.” You poked his skull, and almost burst out laughing when he leaned away from your hand and buried his head into your shoulder.

Papyrus was soon back, looking at the two of you and sighing at his brother. 

“I DON’T EVEN WANT TO KNOW HOW HE FELL ASLEEP LIKE THAT.” He stated flatly, picking Sans up and proceeding to cradle his brother in his arms. Papyrus turned back to you, offering a smile before bidding you farewell for the night. You nodded, waving a bit as you entered your own room. A wave of drowsiness smacked you in the face.

You quickly changed into some lounge pants and a t-shirt before literally crashing onto your bed and falling asleep.

\-----------------------------------------

All too soon, you were woken up by the smell of what seemed to be… tacos? 

Hold on a second, that didn’t seem right.

You sat up, groaning a bit as you pushed the hair out of your face and straightened it out a bit. Ultimately, you decided you would see what was going on after taking a much needed shower. You gathered up an outfit to change into, and set off for the rains of heaven itself.

After your shower, you put your hair up and out of the way. You advanced to the first floor of your home, seeing from across the room that Papyrus, Green Day, and Blue Boy were already awake and eating... breakfast? Alright. You’ve seen weirder breakfasts, even though there was spaghetti, tacos, and lasagna sitting on the counter.

You stopped for a second, remembering something you were supposed to do today. 

“Oh, right.” You muttered out loud, catching Papyrus’ attention.

“WHY GOOD MORNING, (Y/N)! I’M GLAD TO SEE THAT YOU’RE UP! WHAT DID YOU SAY JUST NOW?” He approached you with a smile.

“I was just thinking about how you all should have nicknames. It’ll be less confusing, don’t you think?” You pondered, but laughed when you finished your statement.

The joyful skeleton thought for a moment, and nodded at the proposition. “THAT IS A GREAT IDEA!”

Even though it was faint, you could hear Green Day objecting from across the room, before he turned to start on the dishes that were left from breakfast this morning. You grinned at his reaction. That made you love the idea even more.

You observed the skeletons around the room. Your eyes landed on the energetic clone of Sans first. 

“You!” 

“ME?” He responded, pointing to himself.

“You shall be dubbed Blueberry! You are not only sweet, but blue, just like one!” You announced, and watched as stars formed in Blueberry’s sockets, colored blue like his pupils were. 

“THAT SOUNDS ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT, HUMAN! JUST AS I AM!” He brimmed with pride before running over and hugging you out of appreciation. You grinned and pat him on the back. Blueberry released you, observing as you walked over to Green Day. Being the edgelord that he was, you had the perfect name in mind, and you snickered to yourself before speaking.

“As much as I like the nickname Green Day, I don’t think it provides as much justice as the name Edge does.” You remarked, watching the skeleton scoff before pointing a gloved finger at you.

"I REFUSE TO RESPOND TO ANYTHING YOU COME UP WITH, HUMAN. MY NAME IS THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS! I EXPECT YOU TO USE IT!" Edge crossed his arms and lifted his head haughtily, smirking to show that he had clearly won the argument. The outburst caught you off guard, after all.

Nevertheless, you quickly recovered. “Nah. Nice try though.”

His smirk twisted into a scowl and he turned back to the dishes in the sink, going at them with more force than before.

You expected nothing less from him.

“Paps, I’ll let you keep your name since you’re one of the OG.” 

“REALLY? THANK YOU VERY MUCH!” He paused. “ERM... WHAT DOES ‘OG’ MEAN?”

“It stands for original. As in the first of something. Like how you and Sans were the first ones I met here, before Edge, Blue, and their brothers appeared.” His face brightened with understanding before his attention shifted to the stairs behind you. Lanky had trudged down the stairs, approaching you and Papyrus. 

“heya kid. nice to see you up and at ‘em.” He commented, a lazy grin plastered on his skull.

You turned towards him, and blinked. “Stretch.”

“what?” He raised a bone brow at you. 

“Your nickname should be Stretch. It just seems to fit, y’know? Unless you wanna remain as Lanky, but it doesn’t feel the same.” 

He gave the question a little thought before shrugging. “‘m cool with stretch,” he nonchalantly replied.

You smiled, then turned to Papyrus and Blue. “And his brother,” you gestured to Edge, who was still scowling and grumbling at the sink, “shall be named Red.”

Edge loudly muttered something about it being a stupid nickname. Did you particularly care? It was debatable.

Affirmations of the nicknames were heard from everyone else, and you hummed in approval. You clapped your hands, putting together a mental checklist of what was needed to be done for the day. “Alright! Today I’m going to open the cafe at ten,” you glanced at the time, "so in half an hour."

You thought for a second before beaming at the others. “Feel free to come down and chill. But I probably won’t be back up here until after dinner. I can make a late dinner, or you guys can fend for yourselves. It’s up to you.” After your little speech, you skipped off to go downstairs. Only then did you realize you forgot to make dough last night. Oh well, you would’ve had to make it anyways if you’d slept over at Sans’ and Pap’s destroyed apartment.

Grabbing the necessary ingredients, you got to work. It took almost an hour to make the dough, but it was worth it when you were able to smell the delicious results lingering in your oven. Although, you did have to open up later than you had planned because of that.

You just really hoped you would be able to make today an excellent one.


	5. Monsters Other Than Skeletons? Interesting.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You meet some new monsters, who are surprisingly not skeletons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack, sorry about the late update. Nonetheless, enjoy!

You had absolutely no fucking clue what was going on.

There were multiple monsters at your counter right now. It was just past lunch, meaning the rush of people that came in had either settled down, or left the cafe. “Alright, ALRIGHT!" You raised your voice above the noise. "Calm down!"

The group of monsters and a human child had entered your cafe five minutes ago, and all had begun talking to you at once.

The goat lady was the first to catch your eye with how large she was, towering over everyone else. She wore a purple sundress with a light pink overcoat on top, and brown snow boots. It was a pretty simple outfit.

Beside her stood a human child who appeared much smaller in comparison. The child was dressed in a blue sweater with two purple stripes on it, brown knee length shorts, and matching brown sneakers with white ankle socks. Was this the monster ambassador? You had heard something about them being dressed in a purple and blue sweater, after all.

Next to the human was a short lizard monster in a lab coat, a plain grey dress under it, and black flats to go along with her black glasses. She looked nervous, but overall happy to be with her friends.

The last in the group was a blue fish monster, with flowing red hair, and an eyepatch over her left eye. She wore a leather jacket, a navy blue tank top, and black jeans paired with red sneakers that complimented her hair. You could see her muscles, clearly defined even through her clothes.

You cleared your throat and looked at the child, who was pouting as they tried to talk to you in sign language.

“Kid, I unfortunately have no idea what you’re saying.” You smiled apologetically as the lizard monster turned to you. Thankfully, she'd caught the child's message and was able to translate.

“U-uhm, they said t-that they wanted to s-see Sans and Papyrus.”

Your brain had an “oooooh” moment, and you were able to piece together what happened. Since the skeleton brothers’ apartment had literally exploded, there was no doubt they had friends that were worried about them. You would have been worried if you were in their place as well. 

“Oh, I see. They’re currently upstairs. I can go get them for you if you’d like, I’m sure they’ll be glad to see that they have visitors.” You chuckled. “Give me a minute.”

You received a smile from everyone, and ventured up into your apartment. You opened the door and raised your voice to reach the second floor of your home. “Sans, Papyrus, you have visitors!” 

After a moment of waiting, Papyrus ran down the stairs, his brother tucked under his arm. 

“SANS! WE MUST GREET ALPHYS, UNDYNE, TORIEL, AND THE HUMAN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! WALK ON YOUR OWN! THEY MUST ALREADY THINK WE'RE LATE, AND WE SAID WE WOULD MEET THEM TODAY!”

“gimme a minute, bro. i’m still trying to concentrate on this math equation.” Sans mumbled, his voice notably heavy from lack of sleep. There were dark shadows under his eye sockets, and the lights inside were small and fuzzy around the edges, staring at nothing as if his mind was somewhere else. He must not have gotten any sleep last night.

You sighed slightly at the thought of Sans restricting his sleep for work, and shifted your gaze to Papyrus. “Here, come on down. They’ve been at my counter for seven minutes trying to see you.” The excitable skeleton followed you with Sans still in his arms. Papyrus slid past you and his eyelights caught sight of the monster ambassador and their companions.

“Why hello, boys! We were worried about where you had gone off to after the incident, until you called us. I hope you both have been well.” The large goat monster gave a pleasant smile, and Sans shifted his attention over from whatever space he was staring off into while going through the math in his head.

“hey tori. we’ve been doing well thanks to (Y/n), actually.” He signalled for Paps to put him down, and took his place between you and his brother.

Toriel’s eyes scanned you, the warm hazelnut brown taking in your appearance. She nodded in approval. “Hello dear, thank you so much for taking the boys in. I’ve heard much about you from them.” The goat monster giggled softly.

Flushing a bit, you thanked her for her remark. “Thank you, it’s such an honor to meet you guys. Papyrus likes to talk about all of you as well. You all seem seem like wonderful people.” You responded, glancing over the monsters within the group.

“Aww geez, thanks punk! Glad to finally meet you!” Undyne, the fish lady, attempted to approach you, but you held your hands up in playful defense, which thankfully caused her to back off a bit.

Stepping back behind the counter as more customers entered, you watched the group sit down and start catching up with each other. Undyne came up to order with the child, whom you now knew as Frisk, and brought it back for them all. You did your job, earning a few tips here and there as well. Thank goodness for the tip jar, it gave you some extra pocket money for the week.

Soon enough, dinner time came around. It was six pm, and your stomach was growling a bit. You cursed under your breath, grabbing a donut and munching on it while you leaned on the counter. 

You closed your eyes, sighing as you started to feel the tiredness of the day settling in. 

You heard someone approaching the counter and opened your eyes to see Sans. He stuffed his skeletal hands into his hoodie, glancing over the menu before shifting his gaze back to you. “heya. do you mind if we talk later?”

“Sure, what for though?” You tilted your head.

“i wanna have a talk with red and stretch, and figured you’d like to be present for the conversation. since this  _ is  _ your house and everything.” He responded, his eye sockets narrowing a bit at the thought of the other skeletons. He was awfully stressed about the fact that they were here in the first place.

“Alright, that’s cool. We could have it after Paps, Blue and Edge go to bed. Since this doesn’t sound exactly… up their alley.” The skeleton nodded in agreement, before turning to the others and noticing that they all stood up from their table. 

“Well, it was nice seeing you boys,” said Toriel, “but I do think it’s time for dear Frisk and I to return home and have supper. Thank you for the wonderful time!” You watched as Frisk and Toriel waved, heading out the door and walking through the calm of the autumn night. Undyne and the lizard monster, Alphys, bid their goodbyes as well before heading back to their own apartment. 

Papyrus ran up to you, grinning. “THAT WAS REALLY FUN, (Y/N)! I HOPE YOU DIDN’T FIND US TOO DISTRACTING THOUGH!” 

You laughed at the skeleton. “Of course not, Papyrus. I was just glad that the cafe actually had some life in it for once. When it gets later on in the day, it just tends to be college students and writers coming in to get work done. Very quiet.” 

“OH, THEN YOU ARE VERY WELCOME FOR THE LIVELINESS!” Papyrus beamed, before hugging you. 

You smiled and hugged him back. Papyrus always gives the best hugs.

Looking at the clock on your wall, it was now six fifteen. You decided this would be a good time to start cleaning up before closing. Everyone else had left while the gang had said their goodbyes, anyways. 

“Alright, well I’m going to start cleaning up down here. Why don’t you boys go on upstairs while I close up?” You ask, getting out the mop, spray, and cloth you use to clean up at the end of each day. Papyrus gives you what seems to be a pout, while looking at the cleaning supplies. You tilt your head slightly at this.

“DO YOU NEED HELP? THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD BE HAPPY TO HELP!” He offers, but you shake your head.

“Nah, it’s my cafe. I should be the one doing the work here, not you guys.” You wave your hand in dismissal, giving a gentle smile. 

“BUT ISN’T IT HARD DOING IT BY YOURSELF? I COULD BE OF ASSISTANCE!”

“Paps, you don’t even work here.” You paused. “Why don’t you do me a favor and start on dinner? I have some recipe cards up in the cabinet next to the fridge that you could try out.” You tried to deflect the fact that the skeleton wanted to help. Not that you weren’t tempted to take up the offer-

But to be honest, you needed a distraction from everything at the moment. You not only had to up your budget for groceries, but for electricity, water, and everything else. Figuring out the math was going to give you a headache later.

Papyrus quickly brightened at the offer. “REALLY?! I CAN TRY OUT SOMETHING NEW?”

You gave a quick sigh of relief. “Uh, yeah! Just, don’t burn the house down, and follow the directions exactly. No, uh, burning hot passion this time. Only room temperature passion.” You started to laugh and watched as he became very giddy, running up the stairs to start the activity. 

Sans winked at you, bidding you goodbye to make sure Papyrus didn’t actually burn your home down. That would be very bad.

Finally, you were able to start cleaning. First you made sure to wipe down the tables, double checking for any spots you might have missed the first time around. Next, you moved the chairs out of your way, moping around the tables as you cleaned the entire floor. Perhaps you  _ should _ hire someone to help out. After all, you were the only one in the cafe, doing the job of the chef, cashier, and cleaners every day you were open. 

When you had finished putting all the chairs back in their respective places, you leaned against the counter and glanced at the clock again. It read six forty-five pm, signifying that dinner had most likely been served already, leaving you to either heat up leftovers, or make something of your own to eat.

A Hot Pocket sounded good, if you had to make something. Heavenly flavors all stuffed into a small, delicious crust, all for you.

You opted then to shut off the lights, turn on the alarm system, and head upstairs for the night. The checklist in your head was all filled out, except for miscellaneous tasks here and there. Dinner could wait a little while longer, you supposed.

Opening the door to your home, you were immediately confronted by none other than Blueberry, his pupils replaced with bright blue stars. “HELLO MISS (Y/N)! IT’S NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN!” He pulled you into a hug. With him being a couple inches shorter than you, his skull lightly bonked into your nose.

“It’s only been a few hours, Blue, but I’m glad to see you again, too.” You glanced over to Stretch, who was sitting at one of the chairs pulled up to the kitchen island. “Nice to see you too, Stretch.” 

He gave a small wave, downing the last of the honey bottle he had. Where did he get another one? You pushed the thought away for later. 

“heya. finally finished working, are ya?” 

You answered with a tired smile. “Yeah, I just have a few more things to do around here now. Has everyone eaten?” 

“OH, YES WE HAVE! WHAT PAPYRUS MADE WAS DELICIOUS!” Blue was now sitting on the couch, having taken a seat after releasing you from the hug. “I’M EXCITED TO LEARN HOW TO COOK IT AS WELL.”

Laughing, you walked over and sat beside him on the couch. All you needed to do was eat some dinner and figure out how you were going to find employees for your cafe, then everything would be done for the night. Oh, and you also needed to attend the supposed “talk” that Sans, Red, and Stretch would be having tonight. Fun.

In the meantime, you figured you would spend some time with Blue, watching a movie while you worked out everything in your head.


	6. Finally, Some Explaining is Done

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: There will be mentions of eating disorders from this chapter on! IF you are sensitive to the topic of Anorexia, along with emotional/physical abuse, read with caution!  
> That's all I'll say about that. Enjoy!

Shortly after the movie ended, Blueberry checked the time and went to get ready for bed. It made sense, considering he and Papyrus liked to sleep by nine PM, and it was currently nine thirty. You bade him goodnight and sat there for a bit before Red trudged into the room, plopping down next to you on the couch.

“how ya doin’, sweet cheeks?” He asked nonchalantly, glancing at you.

“Oh, I’m doing fine. What brings you to the couch?” You joked, seeing as he hasn’t been around since you closed the cafe almost three hours ago.

“‘m waitin’ for classic ‘nd lanky to get in here so we can start this ‘talk’,” he replied.

You raised an eyebrow at the nickname, realizing that ‘Classic’ was really Sans a moment later. “Hm, yeah. Sans asked me to be here as well. What do you think it’s about?” Red was about to answer, but was interrupted by the entrance of both Stretch and Sans. You gave a small wave as Stretch sat on the other side of you, and Sans took a seat in one of the armchairs to the side. 

“we’re going to talk about everything we know that came from the accident,” Sans answered with a slight sigh. “i wanna know what these two did before ending up here.” You noticed Stretch visibly tense from that. Did something happen before they got here?

“where were you guys in your timelines before being transported here?” Sans looked between the two skeletons, and you raised an eyebrow at him.

Sans had actually discussed this with the other skeletons when they first got here. He had figured out that the timelines spanned across their universes… As well as their own respective pacifist, neutral, and genocide routes. That was not a fun silence when they all realized that they went through the same experience.

Red rolled his eyelights. “second timeline, a true pacifist one. first was a neutral run. nothin’ special.”

You looked at Red, who was staring at the ground as if it had grown a hand and slapped him. Reminder, don’t bring up the timeline thingy around Red. He doesn’t seem to favor this conversation at all. Sans turned to Stretch, who had his head resting in his skeletal hand, looking off to the side.

“we had just broken the barrier for the first time, after going through two neutral routes, seven genocide attempts, and one true pacifist timeline. only got to sit on the cliff with my bro and the kid before we got put into that ruined apartment.” 

Stretch seemed pissed. Even more so than Red, apparently. The aura that Stretch gave off at the moment was menacing, and you looked at him with shock on your face.

You quickly shifted your gaze over to Sans when Stretch met your eyes briefly.

Sans’ eye sockets were dark, sweat beginning to form at the top of his skull. He hadn’t realized that his timeline was the furthest along out of the three of theirs. The multiverse really liked to screw personalities of him over, huh?

He sighed, looking at Stretch. “how did you guys even get here?” He gave a small wave of his skeletal hand, referring to the apartment that you all resided in.

Stretch locked eyelights with Sans momentarily, before answering. 

“well, when we were transported here, me and my bro saw you and your bro heading over to this place. i decided to take me and my bro to an alleyway before anyone found us, since i was able to trace your magic if i focused enough on it, which must be a weird sans and papyrus thing.” 

He paused for a second. “anyways, when i felt the magic stop traveling, me and my bro hung out next to the place before we heard (y/n) screaming at good ol’ edgy mc my chemical romance over here.”

Red growled at the nickname, only to be hushed by you putting a hand on his shoulder. He seemed to relax at the gesture.

Sans thought about it for a second, then nodded. He looked over to Red next. “and you?”

The edgy skeleton muttered something under his breath before starting his side of the story. “me an’ my bro got teleported here, and decided to follow you right away. said it was somethin’ suspicious, an’ needed to be checked out. so, we arrived here first, an’ my bro was lookin’ down th’ hall while i looked in (y/n)’s room first.” 

You nodded, having a general idea about what was going on. Red, Stretch, and their brothers got transported from their respective universes, and were now stuck here. Seemed legit. 

“How are you going to get them home, Sans?” You asked, a hint of worry in your voice.

He looked over to you, and placed his skull in his boney hands. “well, unless i can figure out how to actually fix an engine and the science behind timeline travel… i don’t know.” 

“waitaminute, did ya say that ya didn’t know how to fix an engine? i can do that in my sleep.” Red remarked, his eyelights focusing on Sans. 

Stretch seemed interested as well. He winked at Sans. “i don’t know that much about engine fixing, but i fancy studying the timelines myself. allows me to do something with my spare time. timeline travel is my specialty.” Sans almost looked shocked, having absolutely no idea that his counterparts were skilled in fields that he wasn’t.

You smiled, looking at both of the monsters next to you, then towards Sans. 

“Well? That should work, right?”

The skeleton gave you a lazy grin, before shrugging. “yeah, that should work. as long as we put our skulls together, we should be able to work on it.” Sans appeared to go back to his relaxed state, relieved that he didn’t have to try to fix this alone.

“sounds like a plan, then.” The edgy skeleton gave a sharp-toothed smile and wrapped an arm around your shoulders. You tensed a bit, but relaxed after a moment of Red’s arm staying on your shoulders instead of travelling elsewhere. Stretch smiled as well, taking a toothpick out to replace his cigarettes that were left at home. You had heard him complaining about it earlier, so maybe you could run out and get him some tomorrow.

In the meantime though, you had to go upstairs to your room and make sure that everything was in order moneywise before you went to get some gracious shut eye.

Standing up, you clapped your hands together as a sign of the meeting concluding. “Alright! Then that means all that’s left is to get to work and make everything happen.” You turned to Sans. “You should probably take the machine somewhere else, by the way. I don’t want my home blowing up.”

He chuckled, giving a nod in acknowledgement. “course. i’ve got it covered for you, bud.”

Nodding in approval, you began to make your way to the stairs before pausing. “By the way, lights out at midnight. I don’t want anything to wake up your brothers, or me as well. I need my solid six hours of sleep.” You then ascended the stairs after saying goodnight to the boys.

When you reached your room and closed the door, you slumped on the floor and sighed as your stomach growled.

“I don’t really feel like eating right now, sorry. Maybe tomorrow.” You could feel the overwhelming numbness crawling up your back as you were now alone with your thoughts. It was honestly more draining than being with other people. You’d have to try and figure something out for that conundrum. 

For now, you had to do your nightly routine and some budgeting before you could sleep. 

Stripping out of your work clothes, you ultimately decided on flannel pants and a large t-shirt for bed as you stepped into your bathroom that was connected to your bedroom. Very convenient to have a private one considering the activities that had been performed there in the past. You shuddered at the reminder of those more depressing times.

After brushing your teeth, combing your hair, and making sure you had done your business, you looked in the mirror and proceeded to take care of your nightly task.

Pulling out your scale, you stepped on it and watched as the numbers were quickly calculated, frowning slightly at the result. You were currently five feet tall, and weighed ninety seven pounds.

That didn’t seem like enough to you. It couldn’t be.

Did you mess up somewhere in your eating schedule? Maybe. You couldn’t be sure though. 

You’d just have to skip breakfast again tomorrow, and opt for a cup of coffee instead. That should suffice. 

To be honest, you were a bit worried that Sans and his counterparts would notice. Sans tended to be very observant in general, and when he wanted to know something, the skeleton always seemed to figure it out. That’s how he had gotten to know you more in the first place, actually.

Sans had been a bit suspicious of you in the beginning. Scratch that, a lot, actually. 

He came back the day after you met the brothers and started asking you a few questions. When he couldn’t get you to answer certain ones, he’d come back the following day and told you he already knew the answer to them. Did he have an outside source? Maybe. You weren’t sure how the fuck it was done; all you knew now was that Sans was fully aware of the fact that you were originally from out of state and that you were not on good terms with your mother.

How the fuck did he know? You needed to ask him later. God, you were putting a lot off for future you to handle.

At least, if you kept your clothing consistent with the bagginess, there shouldn’t be a problem. You couldn’t afford to let someone stop you when you were close to meeting your weight goal, even if it seemed unreasonable to others.

It was stupid, you knew that, but you didn’t want to sit back and do nothing while you felt like a disappointment to everyone you knew.

When you snapped out of the daze you had been confined in, you put on your clothes and sat at your desk for a while, attempting to figure out how to keep everyone comfortable in your home while not running out of money. You determined that you could try and talk to the skeletons tomorrow and see if Sans and Papyrus have jobs, and if they could help with the bills. 

Groaning, you abandoned your work and crawled into bed, burying yourself in a pile of blankets. It was about time for you to crash from the lack of energy instead of wallowing in your own self pity and stress. 

You gave a tired sigh before closing your eyes and letting sleep take you into its blissful grasp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for missing last week's update! Both my beta and I were having a bit of trouble and couldn't get this chapter and the following done ahead of time, so we decided to hold off on it for a week. Thank you for your patience!


	7. Three AM? This is bullshit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fun things happen, and fluffy scenes ensue.

It was dark. 

Very dark, in fact. Your eyes felt numb, not being able to see a speck of light. 

You called out to the void, for something. Anything, really. Perhaps you’d get an answer from the eternal darkness? 

A faint light flickered to life in the distance, a warm yellow, illuminating the room you appeared to be in. You could hear a quiet murmur of voices, but not enough to make out the words. On the opposite side of the room, a still and ominous cyan made itself known. You called out again, but didn't get a response. There was nothing there, it seemed. Only the company of darkness.

Two voices called out to you, but it was too late when the solid surface beneath you morphed into a pit of black liquid, pulling you under.

It was suffocating. You couldn't breathe. You looked up to see two figures run out above the pool—one dressed in light, the other cloaked in darkness—but gravity got the best of you.

You could feel yourself falling, with no ground in sight.

Jerking awake, you yelped as you hit the floor. A cold sweat covered your back, making your t-shirt stick to it. What was with that eerie dream? You had no idea, but hoped that it never happened again. If it did, you spitefully swore you would die from a heart attack.

Shifting into a sitting position, you retrieved your phone to check the time, flinching when the bright screen awakened from its slumber. It was currently three am. 

God damnit.

Turning the phone off and putting it back, you hugged yourself in an attempt to calm your trembling form. Why were you so scared? Nothing had really happened in your dream, after all. Except the drowning part. That wasn’t fun, to say the least.

But that couldn’t be it. So what were you so afraid of, that your subconscious warned your body to remain in panic mode?

You jumped when a figure appeared in front of you, and from what you could see from their silhouette, they were tall and thin. Heart pounding in your ears, you stumbled to grab your phone and turn on the flashlight. The skeleton's hand quickly reached up to block the LED light from his eye sockets.

You struggled to put a sentence together, quickly realizing you had forgotten his new nickname already, and opted to save yourself the trouble by using his impromptu one at the last second.

"S- Pap- Er, Lanky? What the hell are you doing here?! It’s three in the morning!” You shouted quietly, clutching your chest in relief. 

Lanky took a moment to acknowledge the nickname that you used. “... sorry kid, didn’t mean to scare ya. i heard some noise and figured i’d come make sure you were doing alright.” He gestured to the spot next to you on the floor. “mind if i take a seat?”

You replied with a nod, putting your phone down as he did. You left the light on just in case another skeleton decided to come visit.

Both of you sat in silence for a few minutes, before Lanky glanced over at you. “you wanna talk about your dream?” He asked.

You raised an eyebrow, looking at him. “How do you know I had a dream?”

“simple. i have a brother who comes to me everytime he has a nightmare. same expression and everything.”

“I see. Makes sense, though I don’t think I’m as open to talking about it as Blue is.”

He chuckled. “yeah, i figured. sa- i mean blue… he trusts me a lot with that stuff. i can offer you some company, though. if ya want it.” 

“Sure. I usually don’t have anyone here, so it’d be a nice change of pace.” You smiled a bit, knowing that the tiredness on your face was very visible to him. Maybe your bags were dark enough to rival Sans’? It was debatable, but you weren’t willing to compare this early in the morning. 

The skeleton gave a knowing smile, this situation feeling very familiar to him. The same exact thing had happened with Chara, back in his universe. They’d had a nightmare about Frisk, and had been shaken up pretty bad by the experience. When he went to check on them, they’d been curled up next to the couch, terrified. 

He had ended up comforting them, and they had stayed curled up in his lap for the rest of the night. They had bonded over the experience apparently, because Chara also went to him with nightmares after that.

Unfortunately, you seemed like a tougher nut to crack. He had noticed you looking down when you went up the stairs, but didn’t think anything of it at the time.

Stretch was sure the other skeletons in the room had taken note of it as well. 

He watched you gazed off into the dark, seeming to be reminded of something by it. The skeleton found something off about you. He couldn’t quite figure out what, though. Was it the way you seemed to be in a daze? Or perhaps the fact that you had been nothing but nice from the moment you all met?

Stretch decided to think about it later, putting the present first in his train of thought.

He tapped you on the shoulder, and watched your attention shift to him. When you made eye contact, your breath hitched and tears welled up in your eyes. You turned to wipe them away, but Stretch pulled you into a gentle hug. 

He rubbed your back, soothing you the way he would soothe his brother and the kid. Stretch knew you wouldn’t tell him what was wrong, you guys had only met the night before; but this was the least he could do for all that you’d done for him and his brother.

Soon enough, you had calmed down and drifted off to sleep. You must have been exhausted from the nightmare and waking up so early because of it.

Stretch gave a small smile as he sat there with you. You were pretty damn cute when you weren’t wearing a sad expression. 

Maybe he’d try to get you to smile more.

What the hell was he doing? The skeleton shook his head, muttering to himself. Why was he acting like this? Usually he’d be more distant to those he first met. You were a special case though, as your aura was almost alluring to him. It was odd.

Stretch put the thought aside, opting to tuck you into bed and head off to stare at the ceiling for another two hours until he could finally fall asleep.

Your alarm went off, blaring in your drowsy mind as you picked up your phone and shut it off. God, you really hated getting up in the morning. Even if you got a full eight hours of sleep, or downed three cups of coffee, exhaustion always seemed to keep it's hold on you.

Getting your ass out of bed, you trudged over to your mirror and took a peak at what you looked like. Your hair was an overall disaster, and there were a couple tear stains on your cheeks. 

God, you needed a shower.

You went to your bathroom and turned on the water, making sure it was at a satisfying temperature before taking off your clothes and throwing them in your hamper. It was about half full, so you could hold off on doing laundry for a little longer. Climbing into the stream of warm water and sighing as the tension left your tired limbs, you practically melted under the blissful shower.

After you finished, you combed your hair and decided to put it up in a lazy bun, not feeling like having it all over the place today.

You got dressed into a slightly oversized sweater and some leggings, putting on knee high boots as well. Peaking out your window, you could see white littering the streets, falling from the sky to confirm that snow had indeed come to invade Ebott City. 

A sigh escaped you at the sight. A few days had passed since the meeting with Sans, Stretch, and Red. You didn’t know what to think of it now, so you pushed it into the back of your mind like the rest of your problems and allowed yourself to go back to your (mostly) normal routine. After all, this was one of your favorite times of the year. It was when the first snow decided to come around, even though it didn’t stick for long. Soon enough, it’d be back to decent temperatures for a couple days, then winter would finally settle in. 

Your eyes trained once again on the streets outside.

It was kind of peaceful, to be honest. There was barely any wind to impact the snow that was falling, and not many people were out and about today. That would change as the day progressed, but you were glad that you didn’t have to deal with people knocking on your doors at the moment, considering it was about eight thirty in the morning. 

You could faintly hear noise coming from downstairs in the living room, so that pushed you to descend the stairs and find Edge, Papyrus, and Blueberry there.

Papyrus was the first to notice you, coming over to give you a hug. “GOOD MORNING, (Y/N)! IT’S A PLEASURE TO SEE YOU THIS MORNING!” He said, shortly after he released you from his hug. You beamed at him, happy to see that one of your best friends was up to greet you. 

Blue gave an excited greeting from the kitchen, currently working on something for breakfast. Your stomach gave a slight twist as the thought of eating, so you decided to pass and go for some coffee as a pick-me-up instead. Edge watched you make your coffee and settle down on the opposite side of the couch from where he was sitting. 

“YOU DRINK COFFEE? THAT’S REVOLTING.” He commented, sneering at you.

“Hey man, we all have something that gets us up in the morning. Mine just happens to be the sweet taste of these beans from heaven,” you replied.

“IT EVEN SMELLS BITTER.” 

“Well, too bad for you then.” You chuckled when Edge just scoffed at your response. 

Blueberry had breakfast ready at about nine, at which point Stretch had made his way down and plopped down next to you in the living room. You smiled, but politely declined when Blue offered you food. He pouted a little, until you said that it wasn't him. It was that your stomach wouldn't feel good if you ate food in the morning.

He nodded in understanding, and instead passed you another cup of coffee to make up for your loss of breakfast.

You smiled at the small skeleton, happy that he wasn’t too upset over the fact that you didn’t eat this morning. It would have been a shame to see him all down about it. You’re just glad you were able to come up with the white lie before he started questioning you more.

When ten o’clock rolled around, you thanked yourself for having extra dough prepared and ready to be put in the oven when you actually decided to go down and open up shop for the day. Being Monday, you didn’t feel like making anything too complex, so you opted for some coffee cakes instead, since you had some extra dough to use up.

Then, you got to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for not uploading yesterday! We were not quite done with the final round of editing, so it had to be postponed for a day.


	8. Friends Other than Skeletons? That's Humerus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On a quest for coffee, Red decides to tag along with you.

Work was really a pain in your ass today.  You had been nagged by shitty customers at least twice , and another had spilled coffee all over your favorite apron, not even bothering to apologize.

Luckily, lunch had passed and it was about three pm now, meaning your cafe was basically empty besides a few lingering  customers on their laptops. You made sure to go and check on them every once in a while  to see if they wanted more coffee while they worked . It must be draining having to do all that intensive work, after all, even if it wasn’t physical labor.

While you were waiting around for more people to arrive, one of the skeletons decided to visit you.

You looked over to see Papyrus descending the stairs, keys in hand. He wore a white t-shirt today, bearing the words ‘COOL DUDE’ on it, which you one hundred percent agreed with. He also wore a pair of red joggers that matched his scarf’s color. 

“Hey Paps, where are you going?” You smiled, making sure your voice was in it's usual peppy tone. You didn't want to worry the guy. 

“OH, I FIGURED I SHOULD GO TO THE STORE. WE ARE RUNNING LOW ON INGREDIENTS FOR MEALS, AND I HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO PURCHASE SOME GOODS,” he replied, a bounce in his step as he approached you.

“Do you need any more? I can give you extra money-” He cut you off by declining the offer.

“NOT AT ALL, (Y/N). IN FACT, I HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH! OUR CURRENCY WAS DEEMED FAR MORE VALUABLE THAN YOURS, SO WE WERE GIVEN A LOT OF MONEY FOR IT,” he replied, further proving his point by pulling out a thick stack of twenties. 

Picking your jaw up from the floor, you nodded. “If you don’t have a problem with it, then go on. But can you pick up some flour and sugar for me? I’ve been running low and meant to get some, anyways. It’d be a big help.” Papyrus’ eyes lit up, and he gave you a thumbs up before going around to the other side of the counter. 

“I SHOULD DO THAT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE  THEN,” he overzealously states. “DO NOT WORRY, I WON’T FORGET TO BUY SOME. SEE YOU LATER!” He waved to you and continued on to his destination.

You snort at the skeleton, noticing that he always seemed to brighten up your day. Positivity must spread easier than you thought. 

While making your rounds, you were able to serve customers with a genuine smile now. When you retreated to the counter, you mentally smacked yourself, realizing you forgot to ask Papyrus if he could go and pick up some coffee for you. You went to a special place to pick up the ground beans, and didn’t want to skip this week’s visit to the owner, who just so happened to be a good friend of yours. She was like a sister to you.

You made a mental note to go after you closed the cafe at seven. 

First, you’d have to actually get through your shift. 

  
  


The rest of the evening was fairly quiet, which you didn’t mind at all. You were grateful that most of your customers ordered to go and left without any problems . Paps had come back a while ago with groceries, and apparently bought twenty pounds of sugar and flour each. You had almost passed out from the sheer amount there was. 

It may have been a little over the top, but those bags would last you a long time if you stored it properly. You made a mental note to thank him later with some sort of dessert, or perhaps a movie night. Papyrus loved movie nights.

Other than that, it was pretty uneventful.  Now it was closing time, and all that was left to do was to clean up the front counter, then get what you needed to head out for your coffee. You pulled out a towel and some spray, starting on the far side of the counter.

“hey there, sweetheart, you closin’ up?” A gruff voice said, and you immediately recognized it as My Chem- no, wait, you remember distinctly naming him Red. 

You turned to see him leaning on the wall next to the stairs, and he winked at you with a smirk. His hands were stuffed in his hoodie, and you took a moment to acknowledge how comfy that thing looked. Perhaps you would ask him about the comfort factor in the future. 

“Yeah, actually. I have to finish wiping down this counter first,  but then I'm going to my friend's place to pick something up. ”

Red raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “you really goin’ out in this cold? us skeletons don’t get that cold, but i know th’ kid used to get cold all th’ time in the snow.”

You assumed he was talking about his Frisk, and you knew this because you had figured out that Red’s universe was the same as yours, just more edgy.  That led to the question of whether you existed in his world, and if you had been changed to match it as well.

You shuddered at the thought.

“The shop is just down the street, so I should be fine.” You had a moment of realization and clapped your hands together, turning to Red with a smirk. “Why don’t you come with me? I’m sure getting out of here for a little while would be nice.” 

The skeleton looked surprised for a moment, before giving a sharp-toothed grin and shrugging. “ah, what th’ hell, i guess i’ll tag along.”

You smiled and gestured for him to wait there as you put the cleaning supplies away. Finally, you had finished with the counter.  When you returned, you asked him to wait a little longer. “I just need to grab some stuff,” you explained. He hummed in response, and you dashed upstairs to retrieve everything you needed. 

To your surprise, no one was there to greet you. You could hear everyone in the kitchen from the little hallway that led to the door you just came in through, and figured that everyone had gathered to eat dinner. You smiled at the thought of everyone sitting together, before fetching your coat and keys and retreating back downstairs.

“Sounds like everyone’s eating dinner,” you said as you and Red walked towards the front door.

He snapped his fingers. “thought i was forgetting somethin’. classic wanted me to get ya to come eat.”

“Oh. Uh,” you rushed to think up an excuse. “I’ll eat when we get back.” He shrugged and you opened the door to let him leave before you, then you turned off the lights and stepped out onto the snowy pavement, locking up behind you.

“so, which way is this shop?” He asked, looking around to observe the surface a bit. 

“Oh, it’s over there.” You pointed down and across the street,  where a familiar brown building with green accents stood . Yellow light spilled out onto the street in front of it, illuminating the path for those who may walk past. You found the shop quaint and absolutely adorable, to be honest.

You led the way, Red following behind. When you glanced back, he was staring at the starry sky in awe.  You smiled. It was cute, in a way.

When you reached the doors to the shop, he went ahead and opened it for you. You thanked him and he winked at you in return. “it’s no problem sweetheart, wouldn’t want that ass of yours gettin’ hit by the door, after all.”

You playfully rolled your eyes in response as you walked in .

“I have arrived!” You shouted, looking towards the counter.

Then, you were immediately tackled to the floor by the small human that noticed you. You groaned from landing on your ass, but hugged the child back nonetheless. “Hey Minie, it’s nice to see you too.” The child laughed.

“Miss (Y/n), you’re late today! Did you not have time to come here before your work?” Minie asked, her milky blue eyes staring at you in an accusatory manner. Her bright red hair was poofed up due to her bob-cut, the bangs barely allowing others to see the milkiness of her eyes. You frowned a bit. They had gotten worse since you were last here. 

“Yeah, I have some people over that I was hanging out with, and I sincerely apologise… but, I’m here now!” 

A woman with long, blonde hair walked in, her dark blue eyes shining as she smiled at the scene in front of her. “Well, look who decided to stop by. I see Minie already found you.”  She giggled, getting the small redhead off of you.

“Sorry Izzie, I’ve been busy all  day," you said as she helped you up. "Y'know , no one else is working in the cafe, so I’m stuck in there seven days a week.” The two of you shared a hug, and then Izzie turned to Red. He was still standing by the door, absolutely dumbfounded by the current situation.

“Who might this monster be, (Y/n)?” Izzie inquired, looking him up and down. 

“Oh, that’s Red.” You facepalmed. “I forgot to text you about the fact that I got some roommates, didn’t I? Sorry. Red and his brother, along with their…” Looking for  a way to explain them that doesn't involve dimensional travel , you inserted the first relative name you could think of. 

“Uh- Cousins! Are uh, staying with me.” She raised an eyebrow at your little stutter, but overall seemed to buy it. 

Minie walked over, examining the monster very closely before registering the details of his appearance. Her expression morphed into surprise and excitement. “Wow! A real life skeleton!” She circled him a bit. “You look awesome! Are you friends with Miss (Y/n)?! That’s so cool!!” Minie bounced around repeatedly while complimenting him.

“took a bit for you to see me, huh? but thanks kid, i think yer pretty cool as well.” You watched as he leaned down slightly, putting his hand up to his mouth as if to whisper to her. “maybe even cooler  than my bro, but don't tell him i said that.”

Her eyes lit up, and she giggled. “You really think so?! Thank you, Mister!”

Red chuckled, ruffling the child’s hair. You smiled while the two interacted before turning to Izzie. “How is she doing?” You asked, lowering your voice

Izzie gave you a sad smile. “Her vision’s gone down another seven percent since her last visit to the optometrist. They think that she might be fully blind in the next two years, unless she gets the vitrectomy. But that’s only partially covered by insurance, so we need to pitch in at least two thousand to get it done. We have only seven hundred saved up from sales.”

That really didn’t sit well with you. You sternly believed that Minie  deserved the chance to see clearly , considering how she began losing her vision in the first place. That accident shouldn’t have been caused in the first place. Still,  you mentally put that aside for now , not wanting to sour your mood with the thought of what had happened.

You looked at Red and Minie interacting, and nodded. “I’ll have to start coming by more often then, so I can purchase more of your delicious coffee beans!” You announced, and grinned when Minie got excited from hearing that.

Red raised an eyebrow, but decided not to question you. 

“Do you want anything, Red? They have tea, coffee beans, and all sorts of goods here. The chocolate is absolutely to die for.” You looked at him, and he shrugged.

“nah, ‘m good for now. but i can bring my bro over some other day so he can look at all the food here. he’s gonna want to see where we went anyways.” Red waved off the chocolate bar you were trying to shove in his face, and chuckled. “if ya really want ‘em, get some for the others. i want alcohol.” He looked at some of the bottles from across the room. Being an exotic goods store, this place had everything that a person could want. Izzie’s mom, the owner, has a friend she knows from her time in the military that she gets the imports from. 

After a little while of you talking with Izzie, you saw that Red had walked over with a bottle of some sort of Scotch Whiskey, and you almost facepalmed then and there. You picked up a few chocolate bars,  before Izzie led you both over to the counter to check out of the wonderful shop.

“You want your usual, correct (Y/n)?” Izzie looked at you with a grin.

“Do you even have to ask?”

“”Good point,” she responded, bagging up your purchases and giving you the change for the twenty five dollars you had handed her. 

Minie and Izzie both gave you hugs, bidding you goodbye as you opened the door for Red. He chuckled, walking out of it and pausing for you to catch up. You gladly skipped up next to him.

“so, me an’ the other guys are cousins now?” He said, smirking at you mischievously.

You gave him a look, before nudging him with your shoulder. “Hey, it was the only thing I could think of at the time. Plus, it works, doesn’t it? Makes more sense than explaining that you guys are the same people from different universes where your personalities and people are swapped and changed.” 

“yeah, i guess so. just hope it doesn’t come back to bite ya in the ass.” He shrugged.

You paused for a second, before snorting. 

“what?” He asked, raising a bone brow at you. 

“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned my ass today, y’know. Do you have something to tell me, dear Red?” You teased, and watched as he turned a light shade of red. He stuttered a bit, before deciding to just shut up.

“That’s what I thought.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHH It's been too long,,, This quarantine and everything that was going on before it has absolutely fucked me up, so please enjoy this chapter!


	9. Midnight Snacks? 100% Okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!! TW for eating disorders, please be wary while reading! I'll see you at the end of the chapter :D

Arriving at the cafe, the two of you step in and out of the cold. It was a shame the temperature was so low, the sky was really beautiful tonight. Perhaps you would take a look at it later. 

Red rubbed his skull, sighing a bit as he walked up the stairs with you. “gotta say, that was pretty damn fun. for hanging out with humans, anyways. boss always tells me to stay away… but i really don’t give a fuck.” 

You arched your brow at him, before recognizing ‘Boss’ as Green D- 

You meant Edge, you swear. 

As the both of you tread up the stairs, you joked around a bit more. It was fun hanging with Red alone, even if he was a bit more flirty than usual. You opened the door for him this time, and he gave you a sharp-toothed smile in response.

“hey, isn’t that supposed to be my role?” He joked as he walked in. “holdin’ the door for pretty ladies, i mean.”

Chuckling, you gave him a light punch in the shoulder. “Are you trying to say you aren’t pretty enough for me to hold the door open for?” You inquired, switching your gaze to what was going on with everyone. Sans was sleeping on the couch, while Edge and Blue were in the kitchen looking through a cookbook you had put away in one of your cabinets.

Red whipped his head around to face you, grinning. “right, that’s obviously it.” You chuckled as he immediately flopped onto the couch, catching everyone’s attention. 

“WELL, LOOK WHO DECIDED TO SHOW UP.” Edge said, raising a brow at the two of you. 

“HELLO HUMAN! IT’S NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN!” Blue interjected, running over to you and lifting you up in a hug. You laughed as he spun you in circles, seeming to have the endless energy to do so.

“alright bro, i’d put her down before she gets sick from all that spinning.” Stretch appeared at the hallway entrance, offering a light chuckle at the scene despite his concern for your well being.

“AW, OKAY.” Blue set you down, making sure that you weren’t at risk of falling over. You appreciated that.

“It’s okay Blue, I’m perfectly fine.” You held your hand out for a fist bump, and he gladly returned it with stars in his eye sockets.

Stretch gave a small sigh of relief before plopping on the couch with Red and Sans. “nyeh… this couch is too comfy.” Sans gave a “hmm” in agreement, apparently having been woken up from his nap. 

“you said it, lanky.” Red replied, stuffing his hands in his overly fluffy hoodie pockets. 

Sans had fallen back asleep, producing light snores as he breathed. He was sitting up normally, leaning back into the couch with his hood up.

“Well I’m glad you guys find it comfy, since it’s not like all of you have beds and everything in your own rooms.” You said bluntly, looking at the skeletons that had taken over your favorite piece of furniture. God, you loved that couch to bits.

Papyrus entered the room, taking note of Sans sleeping on the couch before realizing you had returned. "SANS! MUST YOU BE SLEEPING AT A TIME LIKE THIS? (Y/N)'S BACK!" Then he turned to you. "HELLO, (Y/N). YOU MISSED DINNER."

"RED WAS SUPPOSED TO GET YOU," Blue added.

Having been woken up by his brother, Sans glanced between you and Red with a raised bone brow. "you two take a detour or somethin'?"

“Oh, no. I’m sorry we took so long, I had to go pick up coffee from my friend down the street,” you explained. “She runs an imported goods shop and it’s got some amazing stuff.”

Sans, seeming satisfied with that answer, nodded. Papyrus deflated a little, expressing how he missed the chance to go out and meet new people. You chuckled and looked at the skeleton. “I’ll take you next time if you’d like, Pap.” Blue asked if he could come as well, and you gave him a thumbs up in approval. Everyone had settled into little side conversations.

You paused for a moment, before an idea popped into your head. This was the perfect time for it! “Hey guys, since we’re all here, do you want to have a movie night?” You glanced at the time—it was seven fifty-five—and quickly did some math before continuing. “We could watch one movie before Blue and Paps go to bed, so they’d get to pick that one.” 

The two energetic skeletons immediately lit up at the suggestion.

“yeah, sounds like a plan, kiddo.” Sans said while yawning. Red and Stretch gave their approval, while Edge strode in to reluctantly agree, as long as he could choose the next movie to watch after. You saw this as an absolute win, to be honest.

“Alright! Then let’s make some popcorn and get everything prepped for movie night!” You announced, and ran to the kitchen to grab the popcorn. 

After some instruction and telling them NOT to set the timer for ten minutes on the microwave, Paps and Blue were on popcorn duty while you grabbed a stack of disney and pixar DVDs that you couldn’t bear to part with. You also got Netflix up on your TV, in case you all wanted to browse it instead of your DVDs.

Once everything was gathered, Edge settled down on the puffy chair to the left side of the couch, while Blue and Paps were on the floor. Stretch, Sans, and Red were still seated on the couch. 

“I didn’t think this through.” You muttered, looking at the pretty much full living room, before a mischievous thought invaded your mind. 

You walked into the kitchen, made sure you had a clear path, and gave a war cry as you bolted into the living room, onto the right side of the couch, and vaulted yourself so that you landed on all three laps of the lazy skeletons. Your chest and up landed in Sans' lap, your waist and part of your thighs landed in Stretch's, and the rest of your legs ended up in Red's lap. 

The once again groggy Sans jolted all the way awake, before grinning and running a hand over his skull. “well then, guess that works. i was wondering where you were gonna sit.” He chuckled. 

Red rolled his eyes playfully, and Stretch raised a brow before deciding to drum your stomach with his fingers. 

You giggled at the feeling.

Papyrus turned and smiled, presenting the movie that he and Blue had picked out while you were all finding your seats. 

“I HOPE YOU DON’T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MONSTERS INC.! THE MAGNIFICENT BLUE AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAVE COME TO A COMPROMISE WITH THIS MOVIE!” He said, while Blue added a thumbs up from beside him.

“Alright, sounds good. Go ahead and put it in!” You said, happy that everyone was all hanging out together.

Edge rolled his eyes from the chair. “THIS BETTER BE GOOD, OR ELSE I’M GOING BACK TO LEARNING THOSE INFERNAL RECIPES YOU HAVE IN YOUR KITCHEN.” 

Stretch chuckled. “don’t get your panties in a knot, edge. i’ve heard some pretty good things about human movies.” The edgy skeleton looked over to Stretch and scoffed, before turning his attention to the movie that had started. 

About five minutes into Monsters Inc., you looked down the couch to see that Red was asleep, Stretch was glancing down at Blue every now and then, and Sans had his eye sockets closed, but wasn’t asleep. He was nonchalantly running his skeletal fingers through your hair, seeming to lose himself in the soft feeling. Maybe it was because he didn’t have hair to run his fingers through? You could only imagine what it must be like having just a skull and nothing else on your head.

You didn’t mind it one bit though, and frankly, it felt nice. 

Glancing over at the louder skeletons, Edge was paying attention to the movie, surprisingly. Blue and Papyrus were one hundred percent invested as well. It was apparent that all of them were getting a kick out of it.

Shortly after the movie ended, Blueberry and Paps excused themselves to go to bed, saying that they wanted to be able to get up early to make breakfast for everyone. It was a little past nine thirty, so the rest of you weren’t quite ready to go to bed yet. 

“What did you guys think of the movie?” You asked, getting up from the bony laps of the lazier brothers. 

“I FOUND THE VILLAIN QUITE ENTICING, IF YOU MUST KNOW. HE DID EVERYTHING TO ACHIEVE HIS GOAL, NO MATTER HOW DEVIOUS IT WAS.” Edge responded, eyeing you from his chair. Oh yeah, at some point, he had officially deemed that his chair. No one really bothered to stop him.

“heh, i like the little green guy, mike. he sold the whole movie for me.” Sans said, and Stretch agreed with him. Red just shrugged, thinking silently about how Boo was a little like his Frisk.

He kinda missed the little brat. Not that he would admit it.

Edge stood and approached you. You had to tilt your head up to look at him as he stopped and towered in front of you, leaning forward to meet your gaze with a slight smirk on his face. You blinked. This was the "happiest" you had ever seen him. Damn, he actually looked pretty s-

“I BELIEVE IT IS MY TURN TO CHOOSE A MOVIE.” He interrupted your thoughts, gesturing to the remote in your hand, and you became flustered at the fact that you had been staring.

You smiled nervously. "S-sorry! I was spacing out," you excused, quickly shoving the remote into his gloved hand. "Here. I'm gonna go get a drink now. Have fun with that." You trailed off, jogging into the kitchen to escape the consequences of your mind wandering.

You could hear Stretch laughing from the couch as you left.

Harsh.

You retrieved a cup of iced tea and returned to see that people had shuffled around because of the freed up space. Sans was now laying on one side of the couch, with Red laying on the other side so that their legs were next to each other in the middle.

Stretch was now laid out on the floor, in front of the couch. He had his arms behind his head as a pillow, and was basically having the time of his life there. How he was comfortable, you had no idea, but decided to not question it.

“Fuck, now I-” You cut yourself off, facepalming once you realized that you’d ended up without a seat again.

Mental note, go to IKEA and get a new couch. At least you had the room for it.

You plopped down on the floor, between the couch and Edge’s chair, with your iced tea. Mostly out of spite. The drink was sufficient enough company if you ignored how you were at least two feet away from the others in the room. 

Damn your cuddly nature.

“I HAVE SELECTED THE MOVIE.” Edge said, handing you the remote so you could put it somewhere after the movie started. 

You glanced up at the television, and saw that he had Friday the 13th pulled up on Netflix. That’s just about what you expected, to be honest. Old school horror was something that you were not very educated with, so this would be an experience. 

“That wasn’t too bad, actually. I’d never seen this movie before today.” You said, laying down on the floor. You'd jumped a few times, and got teased for it, but you all had fun.

“I FOUND IT CHEAP AND PREDICTABLE.” Edge said flatly, rolling his eyelights at your comment.

You snorted, switching your attention to him. “Well, you were the one who picked it out. Don’t complain.” 

He was about to respond, but shut his mouth when he looked at the time. Instead, he got up, collecting his phone from the arm of the chair, and said, “I WILL BE GOING TO BED NOW. IF YOU IMBECILES WILL EXCUSE ME.” He didn’t give anyone time for an answer, immediately heading towards the stairs and up to the room he shared with Red.

“Party pooper,” You muttered, then glanced at the others. “Though I suppose we should go to bed. It’s past eleven.” 

You heard hums of agreement. Then they looked towards each other, nodded, and teleported off at the same time to god knows where. You stood there in stunned silence for a moment, then groaned and deemed it too much to think about right now. It was magic, after all, and defied human logic.

Turning off the TV, you made sure to throw away what little was left of the popcorn and put everything away before making the trip upstairs to your bedroom. 

It had gotten very quiet in the apartment, and you felt yourself calming down from the social interaction and settling into your reserved mindset. 

You closed the door to your room, letting out a sigh and grabbing some pajamas to change into. After entering the bathroom and stripping out of your clothes, you pulled out your poor scale. You stood at ninety pounds, seven pounds less than Monday. A heavy feeling settled onto your shoulders and you gave a weak laugh at the number on the scale.

“Officially underweight, huh?” You whispered, feeling your eyes burn with oncoming tears. You didn’t allow them to escape. 

Of course this felt terrible, both physically and emotionally. You knew this was wrong. But after struggling for years, you haven’t been able to give this habit up. It would make you sick if you ate a full meal, or even something full of carbs to get your weight up. You’d also have to face the fact that your metabolism is six feet under, conserving energy because you’ve been starving yourself.

You had been doing well in getting your weight back up before you met Sans and Papyrus. 

Then your insecurities and doubts got the best of you.

Pulling yourself somewhat together, you take a shower, brush your teeth, and do whatever else you need to do before stepping back into your dark bedroom. It was a little chilly, but you didn’t really mind. You looked towards your partially open curtains and saw moonlight leaking in from the sky outside. You walked over, peeking out to look at the stars.

It was a bit difficult due to the window and its screen blocking your view, but was a nice view nonetheless.

While observing the sky, you felt a pain spread through your gut and up to your mid torso. Your stomach growled in protest to this, and you let out a small huff in annoyance. 

“Yeah, yeah.” You stood up, grabbing a thin blanket and wrapping it around your shoulders. Making sure to open your door quietly, you left it slightly ajar behind you and ventured downstairs to grab something small to eat. You were incredibly tired, but you knew that if you didn’t at least ingest some kind of food, you would not only have your exhaustion double tomorrow, but also be unable to work because of it.

Considering it was Friday night, and you hadn’t eaten breakfast, lunch, or every other dinner this week, you needed something to refresh yourself. 

After all, the others living here shouldn’t have to deal with your petty problems.

You shivered, tugging the blanket around you to keep out the cold air. It’d been about half an hour since everyone had gone to bed, so you were sure that everything was going to be fine while you made yourself a goddamn sandwich. 

Once you were downstairs, you shed your blanket and laid it on the couch. Then you entered the kitchen, grabbing the bread from the lower cabinet, some turkey and cheese from the fridge, and a condiment to go with it.

Quickly making your sandwich and putting it on a plate, you grabbed a glass of water and sat at the kitchen island with one of the stools you had pulled up to it. 

“what’s up with the midnight snack, kid?” 

You froze, almost dropping the sandwich you had just made, and snapped your gaze up to look at none other than Sans. He stood near the couch where you had put your blanket, a lax but uneasy grin on his skull. 

You sighed in relief and gave a small smile. 

“I uh, hadn’t eaten dinner yet is all. I figured I’d get something before my stomach decided to start eating me.” You said, taking a large bite of your sandwich. You suppressed a shudder at the intake of food. It wasn’t necessarily a bad feeling, just contradictory to both your mind and stomach.

He shrugged, taking a seat next to you. “well, i’m glad you’re takin’ care of yourself. wouldn’t want something to be wrong with ya.” He gave a content sigh while you ate your sandwich.

You struggled to finish it after what Sans said. Your stomach was contorting with guilt.

To get your mind off of it, you turned to him. “By the way, did you see the sky tonight?” 

“hm? no, why do you ask?” He inquired, raising a brow at your question.

“Well, it was pretty clear from when I saw it with Red earlier. I somewhat know about your obsession with the stars, and figured I’d tell you.” You took a sip of your water.

He paused for a moment, before grinning at something. Then he stood and offered his hand to you. “would you like to go and see them? i know a great spot to see more stars than you could ever believe.” 

Raising an eyebrow at this, you smiled and took his hand. ”Alright, but let me grab some shoes and get my blanket first.” 

You got up to do so, putting on a pair of sneakers and wrapping the blanket you had set on the couch around yourself. He gently grasped your wrist, pulling you closer to him to prepare for the process of teleportation. “hold on tight.”

In a flash of blue, you were both transported to a cliff of sorts. Looking around, you saw a large opening to what seemed to be a hallway, with the faint sight of golden flowers beyond that. You couldn’t see much more without venturing inside. Over the cliff was a large forest and Ebott City, with mountains encasing the whole valley.

Then you looked up at the overwhelming amount of stars in the sky.

"Oh, wow," you said breathlessly, gazing at the sight above. 

“yeah. i used to dream of this back in the underground. and every night after we were freed, i came here to watch the stars.” The skeleton said, before sitting on the edge of the cliff. He patted a spot next to him for you to sit, and you did. He watched as you made sure your blanket was tightly wrapped around yourself before you sat down.

“I can see why you did. You can see everything from here.” You said. 

The sky was a very dark blue at the top of it, but faded to a calming purple towards the horizon near the mountains. The moon hung a little behind and to the left of you both, so you could only see the stars from where you sat. There had to be thousands, probably millions of them visible. It was simply amazing.

Sans saw you shivering from the cold, wrapping your blanket tighter around yourself in an attempt to stay warm, though it wasn't working very well. He chuckled. “you cold?” 

"Yeah, kinda," you said with a laugh. "I guess I should’ve brought a coat since we were going outside. Whoops.”

The skeleton scooted closer to you, putting an arm over your shoulders and pulling you closer to him. He put his other hand in his pocket and smiled.

“What.” You said, completely bewildered by what was happening. 

His smile dropped slightly, confused at your statement. “is, uh… somethin’ wrong?”

You looked up at him, absolutely dumbfounded. “Why are you so warm?” 

Oh. Thank god, he thought. Sans had actually been worried for a second. Instead of giving an actual answer, he lifted his hands and waved them in the air to emphasise his response. “magic.”

You gave him the most “are you fucking joking” look he had ever seen, and he burst out laughing. You protested at that, but Sans wasn’t particularly able to get out a reply due to laughing so hard. He absolutely loved it when you got mad at his antics. It was kind of cute, if he was honest.

Wait. 

He lit up in a bright blue blush, mentally facepalming at the thought that just ran through his skull. 

Sans quickly shook it off, before glancing down at you. You had settled with looking up at the stars, your cheeks puffed out in an effort to pout at him. Sans rolled his eyelights playfully, switching his gaze to the stars as well. 

Perhaps you two should do this again sometime.

“hey kiddo, think we should get back home?” Sans asked, nudging you a little to get your attention. He watched you sit up straight and stretch a bit before standing up. 

“Yeah, I guess. It does seem to be getting colder, and I’d rather not feel it down to my bones anymore.” You chuckled at your pun and Sans laughed, offering his hand once more so the two of you could get back home. You gladly took it, and in the blink of an eye, you were in front of your bedroom door. 

“have a good night, (y/n). try not to feel bonely without me.” You both shared a laugh before Sans winked at you, and entered his and Papyrus’ room.

You gave a content sigh and went into your room as well. “Night, Sans,” you said, before closing your door. 

After getting in bed and plugging your phone into the charger, you fixed your blanket around so you could lay down and fall asleep without the blanket getting in the way. Finally settled, you drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, your alarm went off, and you groggily shut it off. It was time to get up, you supposed.

After taking a shower, you brushed your teeth and walked back into your room. You felt off today. Why was that?

You picked out some clothes—a pair of jeans and a slightly oversized hoodie. This would suffice for today, right? Deciding that yes, it would, you removed your shirt and took a look in your full body mirror hanging on the bedroom side of your bathroom door. You could see your stomach cave inwards under your ribs, the emptiness once again making itself known. Your eyes traced the outlines of your bones, and you sighed as you put on new underwear for the day. 

“HELLO? MISS (Y/N)?” You heard Blueberry call for you, knocking on the door. 

The doorknob started to turn.

“No, wait-!” You yelled, but it was too late. You turned to the door and were met face to face with the small, bright blue skeleton.

Ah, so this was why you felt so crummy today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEYO!!! Once a month uploads are here!! I hope you guys are enjoying this, and I wanna thank you guys for 100 Kudos, and over 1100 hits!! I'm so glad that people are actually reading this. Anyways, have a nice day, and stay safe!


	10. And it Gets Worse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life is like a slide. Apparently today's part of the slide is full of bumps and some nasty people.

Well, this wasn’t exactly ideal for you right now. 

You met Blueberry’s eyes, before seeing his eyelights move downward to examine your body. He lit up in a bright blue blush, covering his sockets with his gloved hands. “OH STARS! I’M SO SORRY!!”

Speechless, you looked for the nearest covering, which was your blanket on your bed, and snatched it to wrap around you. You crouched down to the floor, trying to feel as small as possible. This was the last thing you had wanted to happen, but it could’ve been worse. You couldn't even begin to fathom what would've happened if anyone else had entered instead.

“U-uh, could you please? Leave??” You sputtered, pulling the blanket tighter around you.

Blue tried to give a nod while walking out the door, but halted halfway through the process to look back at you. 

“MISS (Y/N)... WHY WERE YOU SO THIN? WHEN… UH, WHEN I WAS WITH CHARA IN MY UNIVERSE, THEY DIDN’T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE YOU DO. MR. TORIEL ALWAYS SAID THAT THEY WERE PERFECTLY HEALTHY… ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” His voice took a more motherly tone, and you would’ve giggled at it if you weren’t internally screaming at max volume.

“Uh… I don’t know? Everyone is different, Blue- Why are you asking about this…?” You inquire, raising an eyebrow at the skeleton.

“I!” He stammers, blushing once again. “I WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU AREN’T IN PAIN, OR HURT… MAYBE WE SHOULD AT LEAST HAVE PA- I MEAN, MY BROTHER CHECK IT OUT? JUST TO BE SURE-”

“I’m fine.” You quickly shot, before adding on something to your callous statement. “Trust me, I’m sure if there was anything wrong that I would’ve gotten it checked out by now… D-don’t you think?” 

Blue thought for a second, before giving a small frown. “THAT DOES MAKE SENSE… ALRIGHT! BUT IF ANYTHING IS BOTHERING YOU, DON’T HESITATE TO COME TO ME IF YOU FEEL UNWELL!” He bid you goodbye before exiting your room, closing the door behind him. You could hear his little skips through your walls.

You let out a breath, turning to the clothes you had pulled out and slipping them on. 

Retrieving your phone, you checked for any important notifications, seeing a good morning text from Isabelle. You shot a quick reply back, before sliding the device into your pocket and exiting your room. The cream colored halls were mostly silent, aside from the echoes of conversations leaking up from the floor below. 

You looked towards the ground, rounded the corner to descend the stairs, and ran into something tall and tough. You almost thought you had run into a wall when you lost your balance, and tumbled backwards. 

A yelp was drawn from you, but before you felt the impact of the ground, something caught your arm and pulled you upright. 

“YOU HUMANS ARE ALWAYS SO CLUMSY. YOU NEED TO HAVE MORE GRACE IN YOUR STEP.” You recognized the gritty voice, and glanced up to see Edge. 

“O-oh, hello. Sorry for bumping into you. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” 

The skeleton rose a metaphorical eyebrow, while silently scanning you. It was almost unsettling, being watched so closely by the crude monster. You watched as he seemed to ponder something for a moment, before excusing himself from the awkward exchange.

You mentally nagged yourself, but went downstairs to say hello before going to open the cafe. You saw Stretch, Paps, and Blue doing their respective activities when you came down. 

“ah, hey kiddo. gettin’ ready to go to work?” The lazy skeleton inquired, as you went to stand by the counter for your cup of coffee. There was already a fresh pot there, and you came to the conclusion that Paps or Blue made it so that it’d be prepared when you got up. You smiled at the thought while adding your preferred amount of sugar and creamer. 

“Yeah, unfortunately. I still have to work on Saturdays. Tomorrow, I have off though.” 

“DOES THAT MEAN WE COULD DO SOMETHING TOMORROW?” Papyrus chimed in, looking overzealous at the thought. You pondered for a moment before nodding. 

“I suppose we could all take a walk or something if it’s nice? Maybe go to the park?” It wasn’t really good for the skeletons to be kept in here, after all. Papyrus and Sans could leave whenever, but with the other sets of brothers, you’d have to be a little more careful as to not raise questions… You really didn’t want the awkward conversation of having to explain some dimensional fuck up to others.

Papyrus gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, going back to the book he had been reading earlier. When you took a closer look at the cover, it read, “Puzzling Puzzles to Puzzle your Friends”. 

You chuckled at the title.

When you checked the time, you saw that you needed to attend to the cafe and make sure everything was made and ready to go before you opened. “Alright, I’ve gotta get going. I’ll see you guys at seven, but feel free to come down and hang if you want to.”

Quickly bidding goodbye to everyone, you made your way downstairs. Your mind was in a bit of a funk from this morning, but you felt fine otherwise. Perhaps you would play some music to get your mind off of what happened.

You proceeded through your morning routine, making sure to put all of your baked goods on display, and recounting the money you had accidentally left in the register from the night before. Everything seemed to be in order, so you flipped the lights on, unlocked the door, and got to work.

  
  
  


The morning shift was as good as it usually was, with students coming in to get food before they went to school, office workers getting their much needed coffee, and some of your usual visitors settling down to work on whatever they had to for the day. You enjoyed the company, if you had to be honest.. 

After you gave a sweet elderly woman her pastry, you pulled out a donut to munch on. You didn’t mind it today since it was one of your favorites, and you were feeling awfully cheery today.

You heard footsteps from behind you, and watched as Sans strode up to see you.

“Oh, hey Sans. What’s up?”

He paused, before a lazy grin settled on his face. “nothin’ besides the ceiling. figured i’d come see how you were doin’, is all.”

You rolled your eyes at his joke, but smiled nonetheless.

“If you say so.” You looked down at the donut you had eaten half of. “You want a donut?”

Sans gave a nonchalant shrug, his gaze switching between the baked good in your hand and you for a moment. “nah. i’d prefer to ketch-up with you over a drink instead.” He gave a low chuckle at his own joke.

Once again rolling your eyes, you laughed while fetching a bottle of ketchup from the back. You had previously decided to keep a few of them there since you had found out it was Sans’ favorite… Well, food. Though it hadn’t really been needed lately because they lived right upstairs now.

“There, now we can relish this snack together, right?”

Sans blinked, and let out a hefty laugh at your pun. You mentally smacked yourself for playing along with his jokes, but found it amusing nonetheless. 

“wow, you really did mustard the courage for that one. i’m proud of you, kid.” 

“No need to butter me up, Sans.” You retorted, stiffing a snort at how the conversation was proceeding.

“what’s the big dill? i can’t compliment a cool gal?” The skeleton gave you a wink when he finished his sentence, in a teasing way.

Oh, it’s on.

“Maybe you should just chili out Sans, before I’m forced to stick a knife through that ketchup bottle.”

“resorting to violence? jeez (Y/n), it seems like you’re in a bit of a pickle.” You groan, playfully punching Sans in his skeletal arm. “Alright, that’s enough. No more, please.”

“damn, you didn’t even give me enough thyme to lead up to the kicker.” He added, looking towards you while you were fake gagging at his puns. It wasn’t the worst you’ve heard, actually. That time he went on a bone tangent was worse.

You shuddered at the memory. Never again.

The door made a noise as it opened, catching your attention as to who was entering the cafe. An older gentleman had arrived, whom you had served a few times before. You gave him a cheerful ‘Hello!’ as he approached the counter, but saw his eyes darken at the sight of Sans.

“Hello once again, Miss (Y/n). May I have a black tea and blueberry danish?” He asked, throwing a dirty look at the skeleton before politely smiling at you. 

“Of course. You seem quite fond of the danishes, don’t you?” You responded while gathering his order.

“Yes. You do an exemplary job of making them. One of my favorite pastries to have, as a matter of fact.” 

“Well, that’s good to hear. That will be seven fifty-three, please.” He pulled out eight dollars, handing the cash over carefully, and took the forty-seven cents with no problem when you had finished counting up the change.

“Thank you very much. And do be careful, Miss (Y/n).” The man glanced at the skeleton once more before taking his food and going about his day. You let out a sigh of relief, meeting Sans’ eyes with an apologetic expression. The skeleton’s smile seemed more strained than usual, and his shoulders were tensed up from the interaction. 

You paused for a moment before speaking. “I’m so sorry about him. It seems like I’ll have to punch him next time I see that guy.” You felt anger and a little guilt trickle into your gut. Why did people have to be so rude?

The man may not have said anything about Sans, but the dirty looks he had given him were completely unwarranted. 

Sans took a moment to respond. “... ‘s alright, buddy. me an’ my bro are used to it by now.” You could feel the disappointment in his voice.

“It’s really not. Trust me, you shouldn’t get used to something like that. You’re worth more than you think, y’know?” You reassured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He refocused on you, and let his permanent grin relax into one of appreciation, and took a swig from his ketchup bottle. “heh, thanks. that means a lot.”

“It’s no problem! Besides, I will totally take on anyone who insults my friends. None shall get away with being a jackass!” A few of the people sitting around glanced at you, but went back to what they were doing after a quick laugh.

“if ya say so.” He finished up his ketchup, throwing it in a nearby trash can with a flick of his wrist. You watched it levitate over and settle in the bin. 

Right.

“anyways, i’ve gotta get back upstairs for my regularly scheduled nap.” Right on cue, he yawned. “i’ll see you later, (Y/n).”

You said goodbye, and in a flash, he was gone. God, being able to teleport must be convenient for a lazy skeleton like Sans.

Well, no time to slack off. It was time to get back to work.

  
  
  


When work finally comes to an end, you’re exhausted. You made sure to close up fairly quickly, wanting to go upstairs for a nap as fast as possible.

Coming up the stairs, you open the door to see that Blue was setting the table, while Edge and Papyrus were busy in the kitchen preparing what seemed to be a homemade pizza. The lazier brothers were nowhere to be found, which left you befuddled to say the least. They were all usually found on the couch when you came up.

You went back to the main question on your mind. “When did we get the stuff for pizza?” You asked, and Papyrus turned around to greet you.

“OH, HELLO (Y/N)! MY TALENTED COUNTERPART HERE WENT TO THE STORE WHILE YOU WERE WORKING TO GET THE INGREDIENTS FOR PIZZA!” He gestured to Edge, who gave a grunt from the kitchen while applying cheese to the italian delight. 

“Oh. That… Makes sense? But how did you learn to cook it?” 

“THAT’S SIMPLE ENOUGH, WE LOOKED IT UP!” Blue said. “THOUGH, EDGE DID MOST OF THE COOKING.”

You nodded your head in understanding. “That’s chill. I’m uh… Going to go take a nap, if that’s alright.” You tiredly pointed to the stairs. 

“GOING TO SKIP ANOTHER DINNER, I PRESUME?” Edge comments, and it took everything in you to not send a defensive retort back at him. Shaking your head, you instead calm yourself and look at him, absolutely done with everything.

“I snacked on something while downstairs. If I need anything later, I’ll make sure to get some of that pizza, alright? I’m just… Really tired, right now.” 

  
The three bid you goodnight (Edge grumbled more than spoke), and you trudged up the stairs and into your room.

You crawled into your bed, too fatigued to care about changing. They were comfy anyways, so it didn’t particularly matter if you decided to or not. You covered yourself up and allowed yourself to fall asleep.

  
  
  


You groaned, turning over in your bed. It was way too soon to wake up from your slumber, in your opinion. About an hour had passed, and you woke up shortly after eight o’clock without being able to sleep since. It was now eight fifteen.

Ah, fuck it.

Sitting up, you fixed your hair so that it wasn’t poofing up in your face, and straightened out your clothes. 

If you couldn’t go back to sleep, you could at least go downstairs to see what everyone was up to. You went downstairs and entered the living room, catching the attention of everyone. Rubbing your tired eyes, you gave a small wave to the skeletons. “What’s up?” 

Once again, all of the seating in the living room was filled up. 

“HELLO (Y/N)!” Blue and Papyrus said at the same time from the floor. They gave each other a look of confusion, but ended up laughing instead.

Stretch was asleep on the couch, Red was drowsily waving at you, and Sans was doing something on his phone. You chuckled at them. Edge was in his chair, reading from a cookbook that you didn’t remember having. 

“HOW WAS YOUR NAP? YOU WERE ONLY ASLEEP FOR AN HOUR.” Blue pointed out, giving a warm smile. You explained how you weren’t able to sleep very well and just decided to get up, even though you were still tired as hell. He nodded, understanding your predicament.

Your attention was then caught by the mischievous grin of Red's, his tooth glinting even in the dimmed light. He choose to wink at you, making you flush a light red.

Huffing, you plopped down on the floor in between Pap and Blue. 

"So," You paused to yawn. "What are you guys up to, anyways?" This earned you a grin from Blue. He explained that they were all trying to agree on something to do, whether it be a movie, a game, or something else. 

You glanced at your poor old Wii sitting under the TV on the stand, trying to decide if the idea you had would end in disaster or not. Ah, what the hell. If you taught them how to use it, that'd be one less predicament to worry about when the skeletons were bored.

"How about you guys play Mario Kart? It's a racing game that four people can play at once."

This caught the attentions of Papyrus and Blue, both of their eye lights glistening at the mention of a racing game. "I WANNA PLAY!"

You giggled at their same time response, powering up the device and putting the disc in. It had been a while since you had been able to load it up, but everything went smoothly from what you could see. 

"Alright, so who would like to go first?"

  
  
  


Apparently, these skeletons were filled to the brim with competition. None of them let up on trying to win, even the lazier skeletons joining in on the fun. It was hilarious, if you were to be honest.

You had been dozing off after playing a few rounds, when your phone buzzed in your pocket. That meant you were getting a call. 

Removing the device from it’s confinement, you took a look at the name displayed on the screen.

Oh,  _ shit _ .

You immediately stiffened upon seeing it, anxiety pooling in your stomach. Red must have noticed this from behind you, because he leaned forward with a quirked brow. “ya okay there sweetheart?” 

Nodding, you got up from where you had been seated. “I… I need to go take this call. I’ll be back.” You mutter, walking up your stairs and into the hallway. 

You tapped the answer button.

“Hello, mother.”

“ _ Honestly, you should call more often, (Y/n). You know that I want you to keep me up to date on what’s going on in your life.” _ Her tone was as cold as ever.

“I’m sorry mother, I’ve been a bit busy lately.” You paused, searching for the right thing to say. “How was your day?”

She huffed into the phone. “ _ My day was mediocre, at best. These monsters continue to piss me off, every single day. I don’t even see why you decided to move into a city full of them. _ ” There she goes. She was once again judging you for your life decisions, criticising you for every little mistake you had made in her eyes.

“ _ They’re hideous beings that deserve to be eliminated.”  _ You had to refrain from saying something snarky.

“ _ (Y/n), it’s not too late to come back and enroll in college, you know. You certainly have the grades for it.”  _

“No offense mother, but I am perfectly content with where I am right now.” You responded. “Besides, it’s not at all bad here.” 

She sighed. “ _ You’re just letting everyone walk all over you, (Y/n). A coffee shop owner? The most ridiculous job in the world. You’re living to serve people, just like a slave.”  _ Just a little longer. She’d lose interest.

“ _ Though I suppose it’s fitting for a girl like you. _ ” She added, her stern voice echoing through your mind.

“It’s not.” You replied, voice barely above a whisper. 

“ _ Pardon? _ ” 

“I said it’s not!” You said, louder this time. “I’m doing what I love, what’s wrong with that? Or are you just upset that I didn’t turn out to be the pretty little princess that you wanted me to be?” Your voice rose with each word.

“ _ I only wanted the best for you, (Y/n). You had a whole path planned ahead of you, but turned it down in favor of some petty dream. _ ” 

Oh, that’s it.

“Really now?  _ I  _ was wrong for leaving that shitty household, and your plans for me?!”

“ _ Don’t yell at me, (Y/n). You know what’ll happen if you continue.” _

You froze, a sharp pain going through your chest at the thought of what she’d do. No, you needed to calm down! She couldn’t reach you right now, you were over a hundred miles away from her, you  _ couldn’t _ allow her to win this-

“ _ I have other matters to attend to. Goodbye. _ ” You pulled the phone away from your ear, seeing that she had hung up.

You could hear your heart in your ears. Why did she have to scare you so much?

Slumping against the wall, you took a moment to compose yourself. You couldn’t let her put a damper on your night, after all. Hopefully no one could hear your yelling from downstairs. Though you probably knew it’d lead to questions either way. 

You went downstairs anyways, a smile plastered on your face. “Hey, sorry about that.”

“who called you?” Sans said, a look of concern on his face.

“It was no one.” 

“THEN WHY WERE YOU YELLING JUST A FEW MINUTES AGO?” Papyrus chimed in, clearly worried as well. You sighed, shaking your head. “It was my mother. It’s fine.” 

“didn’t sound fine to me.” Stretch commented. 

“What is this, an interrogation? Me and my mother had a small fight. It’s nothing to worry about, I promise. Please, let’s just leave it alone. Anyways, I'm already over it.” You laughed nervously, trying to get your mind off of the topic.

They all paused, and you saw Papyrus shoot an uneasy look at Sans before the shorter skeleton gave a nod to answer his unasked question.

"alright… if ya say so, (y/n)."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have returned with chapter! Please excuse me missing last months update, I'll try not to let it happen again! Hope y'all enjoyed!


	11. Ah Yes, the Smell of Pancakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello food!

Feeling flustered, you quickly decided that you needed to retreat back upstairs.

"I… I'm gonna go to bed, alright? I'll see you guys in the morning." Red appeared in front of you, cutting you off and snatching your hand before you could push past him.

"are ya hidin' something, (y/n)?" His tone was almost accusatory, and the look he gave you made you even more uneasy.

You shook your head, taking your hand back gently. "If I were, it'd be in the wide open, wouldn't it? Secrets don't stay kept for long, especially when you live with those who want to know." 

The skeleton hesitantly let you by with a slight growl, deciding to take what he could get instead of pressing for more. You bid them all goodnight and trudged up the stairs, passing out in your bed once more.

God, you were such a hypocrite.

  
  
  


The wooden stairs wailed underneath your weight, heavy steps doing nothing to ease them at all. You tried to ignore her, just wanting to be rid of the insistent nagging. You knew you were the reason he left. He couldn’t stand to be a teenage parent, so he fled. It was drilled into your damn skull. She wanted you to be everything she didn’t get to be. 

Why couldn’t she understand that it wasn’t what you were willing to pursue?

“I told you, I’m not going to do it! Will you stop?!” You turned to face your scolder, but found someone else standing there instead of the brunette you were used to earning lectures from. 

“ _ Why won’t you listen? This is what’s best for you!” _ The voice may not have been his, but Papyrus was there, with an irritated twist to his usually cheery expression. Brows furrowing, you turned to run down the now never-ending hallway that had originally led to the entrance.

Words of disappointment echoed through your mind, making you dig your hands over your ears in an attempt to silence them. Her shrill voice had gradually morphed into the familiar tenor of Papyrus, accompanied by Sans. 

“Shut up, shut up!” You yelled through choked sobs, continuing to sprint in the unknown direction. 

A door suddenly appeared in front of you and you jerked it open, entering a dark room.

The voices were louder here. You couldn’t block them out. You could hear the disappointment in everyone that you had come to trust, but what cut through them all were a set of whispers, coming from voices you had never heard before. Looking around, you caught a glimpse of two figures in the distance. They both looked familiar, but nowhere near recognizable.

Before you could call out, the darkness swallowed you whole once again.

  
  
  


You could hear your heart in your ears when you jerked awake. Flustered by your nightmare, you glanced at the clock in an attempt to forget about it. 

“ _ Five  _ in the morning _? _ ” Groaning, you decided to get up and do what you forgot to do last night.

After showering and brushing your teeth, you measured your weight and saw that nothing had particularly changed except a couple pounds disappearing. Throwing your hair up into a bun, you chose some comfy pajama bottoms and a nice hoodie as your lounging attire. 

After heading downstairs, you found only Blue up in the kitchen. Why was he up this early? 

“Blue?” You called to him tiredly, and his attention immediately snapped to you from the sudoku puzzle he was working on at the table. 

“Oh, Why Hello (Y/n)! Why Are You Up So Early?” His tone was obviously more tame than usual, probably due to the fact that everyone else was asleep at this hour. You started your coffee machine before settling down next to the skeleton. 

“Had a rough sleep. What about you?” 

“I’m Always Up This Early!” He replied with liveliness lacing his soft voice. “I Decided To Help Out By Cleaning Every Morning, Since The Cooking Seems To Be Covered. I Enjoy Making This Place Look Nice!”

Slightly stunned, you gave him a grateful smile. “That’s really nice of you. I’m kinda jealous, I’d never be able to do that.” 

The small skeleton beamed at you, clearly happy at your appreciation. “It’s Nothing That The Magnificent San- Er, Blue Can’t Do!” He stumbled over his words, but recovered nonetheless. You snickered a little bit. 

"It's alright to call yourself 'Sans' when we're alone, y'know. You are your own person with your own name."

Blue was clearly caught off guard by this, and glanced at you with wide eyes. "R-Really? It Doesn't Sound Too Weird?"

You answered with a smile, hoping to reassure him. "Of course not. It's only right for you to be able to use your name."

Blue smiled back and returned his gaze to the puzzle in front of him.

A moment later, the machine finished making your heavenly drink. You got up to pour yourself a cup, adding in your desired amount of sugar and milk, then sat back down at the table. Blue looked to the clock, then started to get up.

“I Must Be Going! I Have To Do My Three Hour Workout!” You watched with a chuckle as he pulled out a set of matching sweatbands, one for his head and two for his wrists, and put them on. “I Must Make Sure To Keep My Skills Honed, After All!” 

“Alright, have fun. Watch out for cars.” You waved goodbye to him as he left, taking the stairs that led to the back door of the cafe, then took a sip of your coffee.

“Guess I’ll take a nap after I finish this,” you remarked to yourself.

  
  
  


Turned out the word “nap”, in this context, meant lying on the couch unable to catch a wink of sleep, which irritated you to no end. A headache had developed due to your shitty sleep last night, and the coffee did nothing to help. So, you instead ended up scrolling through social media until further notice. 

It wasn’t until seven am that Papyrus awoke and found you cackling at some miscellaneous memes you’d come across on Twitter. 

“(Y/N)! WHAT HAS GOTTEN YOU UP SO EARLY? AND WHY ARE YOU OMINOUSLY LAUGHING AT YOUR PHONE?” He inquired.

Surprised, you immediately focused on the skeleton. “Oh, hey Paps. Sorry, I slept like shit last night and needed a pick me up, so I was looking at stuff online.” You held up your phone for emphasis. “Glad to see I’m not the only one here awake now.”

Papyrus paused, then shook his head and sat on the couch. He was completely silent as he pulled out his rubix cube. 

That was… odd.

After a few minutes of no conversation, you decided to investigate. “Hey Paps, what’s wrong?” You sat up and scooted next to the skeleton.

“HM?” He switched his attention to you.

“You’re awfully quiet. Even if it is seven in the morning… You’re usually not this silent.” 

Papyrus took a moment to respond. “I”M… I’m Worried. About What Happened Last Night, I Mean.” He lowered his voice, giving you the hint that it was serious.

“Oh, Papyrus… I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you worry like this-” You cut yourself off and mentally slapped yourself. Of course he would worry! He’s one of your best friends, after all. You felt incredibly bad for making him worry to this point.

“I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, to be honest…” You trailed off. “None of the fights I have with my mother are, really. They’re petty and a waste of time.”

“THEN WHY WERE YOU UPSET ABOUT IT?” His voice raised in volume again, taking on a more concerned tone. You chuckled at his question.

“I dunno, actually. They’re always over the same few things. But everytime I hear her say horrible things, I can’t help but get riled up. It’s just always been like that.”

He looked back down to the colorful cube in his hands. “DO YOU HATE EACH OTHER?”

You took a moment to put a little thought into this answer, before shaking your head. “I can’t speak for my mother, but I personally don’t hate her. She’s always been demanding, and tried to control my life since I was born. My mother wanted to force me down a path that wasn’t my calling… Though I don’t think I could ever hate her for it.” Pausing, you took a breath, and forced yourself to push down the recollection of your dream from last night.

“Don’t get me wrong, I definitely don’t like her. But there was a time a little before it started that she showed love and compassion, and I guess I’m a little hopeful that it’ll come back. Probably not, though. It’s unfortunate, but I don’t see her making a u-turn after being abusive for who knows how many years.” Realizing how in depth you went, your cheeks flushed a light pink. 

“Sorry, guess I got carried away-”

“NO! I-” He cleared his non-existent throat. “I’M GLAD YOU TOLD ME. IT MAY BE SAD, BUT IT MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE TODAY… AND I THINK YOU ARE JUST AS GREAT AS ME!”

You looked at the skeleton, feeling warmth spread through your chest at his sentimentality. “That’s sweet of you to say. Glad to hear it.” 

“OF COURSE! I’M JUST TELLING YOU THE TRUTH.” 

The truth.

RIght.

The reminder of everything you had been keeping from everyone felt like cold water on your face. Sure, it was a relief to tell Papyrus about how you and your mother had a vile relationship, but guilt gnawed at everything you were. How would they all react to finding out you were more broken than you appeared…? 

The thought of that happening terrified you. 

Throwing that disaster out a metaphorical window, you offered a smile. “Alright, let’s cut the sad stuff.” The skeleton cocked a bony brow at you, which caused you to laugh. “Wanna help me make breakfast for everyone?” 

He jumped up. “YOU’RE GOING TO BE JOINING US TODAY?” 

“Yep. I’m off on Sundays, after all. My one day to relax.” You sighed, wishing that you could take more time off. But unfortunately, your poor wallet was damn near empty, and you had bills that needed your attention. 

Papyrus helped you to your feet, obviously ecstatic to cook with you, if his little "YAY!” was anything to go by. He skipped to the kitchen, more than prepared to get started. 

“WHAT ARE YOU IMBECILES DOING?” A voice rang from the stairs, and with a mere glance, you recognized the owner to be Edge. 

“Well, we were just about to get cooking. Wanna join, Mr. Angsty Teen?” You teased, earning a scoff from him. 

“I’LL PASS, IF YOU PLAN TO INSULT ME THROUGH THE WHOLE PROCESS.” He strode to his chair and took a seat. You wandered over, poking his skull from behind.

“Aw, don’t be such a Debby Downer. I was just poking fun with you.” You poked to emphasize each word, giggling. Edge has clearly been fed up with your shit, and he hadn't even been there for two minutes. You would’ve felt sorry for him if you weren’t having a great time.

“GO BACK TO YOUR IDIOTIC SHENANIGANS.” 

You shrugged and finally gave up. “If you say so.” 

You padded into the kitchen, and looked at Edge’s cheerful counterpart. “How does pancakes sound? Have you guys had them yet?” 

Papyrus shook his head. “NO, I DON’T BELIEVE WE HAVE! WHICH IS ODD, I MUST SAY.” The skeleton scratched his skull at the thought. “BUT THEY SOUND DELICIOUS!”

“Alright.” You shuffled around through your cabinets for a brief while, looking for the box of mix. “Usually homemade pancakes are the most tasty, but I always use the boxed stuff for the sake of my time and sanity.” You gave a huff of relief as you found and retrieved the box. “There’s nothing wrong with that, though.”

You gestured to the directions on the box, and began to explain how to make the golden delight. “You just take the mix, scoop it into a bowl, and add eggs and milk. Then you cook it on a pan till it’s nice and brown. It's one of my favorite foods to make.”

You asked Paps to grab the milk, eggs, and butter, while you grabbed a pan and a spatula. Then, you directed him through mixing everything together while you set the stove on medium heat, allowing the butter to melt and lubricate the pan.

"Alright, now you're going to pour the batter onto the pan in even portions. Try to make sure they're circular."

He did as you instructed, and you ended up with four pancakes on the large pan. 

"Can you grab one of the bigger plates in the far cabinet?" 

"OF COURSE!" He replied, cheerfully.

The two of you worked together with a few bumps here and there, but overall it went decently smooth. Breakfast was done within thirty minutes, since you had quite a bit of pancakes to make and divide up. 

Just as you were ready to call everyone down, Blue entered through the door. "I HAVE ARRIVED BACK SAFE AND SOUND!" 

"Oh hey, great timing! We were just about to have some pancakes for breakfast. You want some?"

His eyes morphed into stars, with a bounce in his step as he trotted over. "YES, PLEASE! ALLOW ME TO SET THE TABLE!" The ecstatic monster pulled out silverware and plates for the four of you, as the other skeletons wouldn't be up for a little while longer. 

You carried the stack of pancakes with caution, and set it down to fetch the syrup and butter, putting them on the table for you all.

Then, you placed a nice stack of the leftovers to the side for Sans, Red, and Stretch, along with plates and silverware. Once that was finished, you retreated to the table, sitting down and digging into the breakfast delight.

"I love pancakes…" You softly moaned at the taste, proud that you had gotten the fluffy texture just right.

"THESE ARE VERY FLAVORSOME, (Y/N)!" Blue commented, the stars that had appeared never fading from his eye sockets as he ate. Papyrus agreed with him while Edge ate in silence.

"Thanks, if there's one thing I'd like to say I'm good at, it's cooking. Been doing it for a while now, so you tend to pick up a few things." 

Edge shot you a glance, which did not go unnoticed. You would have to ask him about that later, if you didn't forget to, that is. 

After everyone finished, you saw that the time read eight thirty. Papyrus and Blue decided to do some puzzles together until their brothers got up, while you chilled on the couch once more. Edge resided in his plush chair, reading through another cookbook he dug out from your kitchen.

Half an hour had passed by the time Stretch descended the stairs, with both a sleepy Sans and Red in his arms. 

"Why are you guys up so early?" You inquired.

Stretch yawned. "we have something to do today… gotta go look for something…" He trailed off, just as drowsy as the other two.

"... Alright. I left pancakes on the counter for you guys, if you wanna take those. And at least drink some coffee before you decide to blink out of existence, I don't want you guys getting stuck anywhere." You chuckled as Stretch gave a thumbs up, fetching the plate of pancakes, three mugs full of the coffee from your pot earlier, and somehow balancing them all with one hand. 

He waved goodbye to his brother before disappearing. 

Papyrus blinked at the spot where he had just been and sighed. "THOSE THREE ARE GOING TO CAUSE TROUBLE WITH THEIR SPACE-TIME SHENANIGANS, ONE OF THESE DAYS."

His words caused you to burst into laughter. "I mean, you're not wrong," You paused to breathe for a moment, "I just hope it doesn't end up like your apartment."

"PLEASE DON'T EVEN PUT THAT INTO THE UNIVERSE, (Y/N)!" He replied, shaking his head.

You shot him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Paps, I'm sure everything will be fine. I trust that they'll be able to handle it all." The skeleton, though hesitant, agreed with you in the end.

An idea popped into your head. 

"Hey, why don't you guys go to the park and enjoy the sun? I'm sure it'd be good to do before the snow storms decide to take over for the fall. Plus, it'll be really fun. There'll be plenty of space to run around instead of being cramped up in here."

Blue and Papyrus both glanced at each other before nodding, clearly psyched up for the trip. You were kinda proud at how good you've gotten at cheering the boys up. 

While they got ready to go, you packed some sandwiches for them, insisting that it wasn't too much trouble to do so. You made sure that everything would stay chilled long enough for them to enjoy it around noon or so.

"THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING US LUNCH! WE'LL MAKE SURE TO ENJOY IT!" Papyrus gleefully said while pulling his boots on.

The overjoyed skeletons left a few minutes later, leaving you and Edge to your own devices. He had started watching TV, and based on his "I don't give a fuck" vibe that he eminated, you settled down on the couch, peeking up at the TV every now and then to see what Edge was selecting.

He eventually settled on Master Chef, pulling up an episode in the middle of a season. 

Well, you've got nothing to lose by asking.

"You like Gordon Ramsay?" Edge looked at you with a raised brow. This caused you to trip on your words a bit. "W-Well, I only assume. He seems like someone you would totally respect, y'know? Since you like cooking and all…"

The skeleton gave a scoff. "WHY DO YOU ASK?"

"I dunno. Just curious is all." You answered swiftly. "I found my passion for food through my friend Isabelle, so I figure you must have had a source somewhere."

The skeleton gently closed the cookbook and put it to the side. "YOU ARE CORRECT SAYING THAT I RESPECT MR. RAMSAY AND HIS WORK. HE HAS A FIERY PASSION, AND CONTINUES TO IMPROVE HIMSELF AND HIS SKILLS WITH A SHARP, YET MAGNIFICENT ATTITUDE. HE IS AGGRESSIVE YET GRACEFUL WITH WHAT HE DOES."

"You wanna be like him?"

This caught the skeleton off guard. "WELL- I UH… IN SHORT, YES. SINCE I HAVE ACHIEVED MY GOALS OF LEADING THE ROYAL GUARD, I HAVE NEEDED SOMETHING ELSE TO PURSUE. COOKING SEEMED LIKE THE BEST CHOICE, AS I LOOK DOWN UPON ANY MEAL THAT ISN'T TOP QUALITY."

You chuckled. "So that's why you've been reading through the cookbooks? And watching Master Chef. Though that's not everything to it, sorry to say. You have to gain experience and learn the techniques needed to make food you enjoy."

"WHAT MAKES YOU SO CONFIDENT IN THAT STATEMENT, HUMAN?" The nickname came out like venom, though you brushed it off as him being nice. Well, as nice as he could be.

"Like I said earlier, I've been cooking for a while now. You'd think I'd have learned something by now. Though my expertise is in baking, I like to think I'm not too shabby."

A sharp smirk rose and replaced his frown. "THEN WHY DON'T YOU SHOW ME?" 

Ah, so that's where this was going. You stretched your arms out, loosening them up. "Well, if you wanna join me downstairs in the kitchen, I'd be happy to show you a few things. Just don't be mad if you can't do everything on the first try." You teased.

The skeleton rolled his eye lights at you, but got up to meet you downstairs anyways while you hiked up to your room to get some decent clothes on. 

Bonding time with the skeleton who was tough as nails and even sharper than them? Sounded like a fun time to you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this is three days behind lmao  
> Hope y'all enjoyed it nonetheless!


	12. The Power of Tomatoes Compels Thee!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooking time with the Edgy Skeleton.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOOH LATE EDIT BUT I MADE A LIL CHANGE IN CHAPTER 7   
> Basically a lil time skip was added because what I was wanting to portray didn't line up with the storyline, so that was fixed! Reread that chappie if you wanna know what was writing, but if not, just know that the days are a bit more spread out than they appear to be.

“Alright, so I’m gonna teach you to make one of the most basic dishes there is out there. Any good chef will know how to make this with ease.” You stated, tying on your apron. Edge borrowed your spare one to ensure that nothing would get onto his clothes, though it looked almost comically small on the skeleton.

“HMPH. WHAT DISH WOULD THAT BE?” He scoffed at how the air around you had shifted. 

You smirked. “Today, we’re going to be making tomato soup!”

“IS THAT ALL?” Edge inquired, furrowing his brows slightly. “I ALREADY KNOW HOW TO MAKE THAT SIMPLETON’S DISH.”

This caused you to tilt your head in minor confusion. For some reason, your gut told you not to trust his statement. So, to verify, you asked him to explain it step by step.

As Edge walked you through his process of preparing the soup, you gradually became more and more dumbfounded by where he was getting this recipe. In what world were you supposed to add staples to tomato soup?! 

You cut him off. “Time to take a step back. Sorry to say, but that’s not how you make edible food here, Mr. Malefactor.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but you raised an eyebrow and shifted your stance to something that radiated confidence and authority, as if challenging him to talk back. You could clearly see that he wanted to, but something seemed to be holding him back. Eventually Edge shut his mouth with a scowl and folded his arms across his chest. "FINE," he huffed. "SHOW ME THE "CORRECT" WAY TO MAKE TOMATO SOUP THEN."

Even though you had turned around to grab the necessary ingredients for the dish, you could hear the roll of his eyelights from where you were. You found it absolutely hilarious, though.

“First of all, you want to make sure to lay out your ingredients in front of you. If you have to pause in the middle of cooking to grab something, there’s always a chance you could mess something up in the process. It’s always good to have everything on hand.” You hauled a large bowl of tomatoes onto the counter, then fetched some peppers, garlic, an onion, a bell pepper, and various spices. 

“Would you mind grabbing a couple cans of chicken broth? As well as the heavy cream from the fridge.” 

Edge followed your instructions, and soon enough everything that was needed had been placed in front of you both on the counter. As you loosely explained what you would be doing, his expression changed from one of irritation, to complete focus for what he was about to partake in. It almost amused you to see something other than a harsh expression on his face.

You retrieved a pair of knives from the side counter. “First, we need to cut up the tomatoes, then dice the onion and bell pepper. You know how to properly hold a knife?”

Edge rolled his eyelights. “I SUPPOSE YOU SHOULD SHOW ME IN CASE I DO NOT.”

“Sure thing.” You handed him a knife. “So what you want to do is keep your hand relaxed, but tight enough that the knife doesn’t slip out of your damn hand while cutting.” You held up your hand as an example, and kept a watchful eye as he mimicked your grip.

“Good. Now, in order to not chop off a finger,” you paused to grab a tomato, “you need to hold whatever it is you’re cutting like so.” You demonstrated the proper way to hold the fruit by first swiftly cutting the tomato in half, then laying it on its flat side. 

Your hands went to autopilot past that point. The grip you held on the actual tomato was loose, but you made sure to apply pressure as you cut to ensure that it wouldn’t slip and mess you up, or cause you to cut yourself. “Make sure that you cut the bigger ones into eighths, and the smaller tomatoes in halves or fourths.”

He gave a nod in understanding when you looked to him for a response. When asked, he followed your steps perfectly, not missing a beat as he cut the main ingredient with ease. 

“Now that you understand that, I’m going to teach you how to dice an ingredient.” 

As promised, you showed him the correct way to dice an onion, and walked him through while he diced the bell pepper you had given him. He picked up the technical skills quickly, as a natural would. You grinned in satisfaction at the finished pan of cut up ingredients. 

You gave the skeleton a thumbs up. “You learn very quickly, you know that?”

“OF COURSE I DO, HUMAN. THERE IS NO SKILL THAT THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS CAN’T LEARN WITHIN A DAY OF TEACHING!” He announced.

“No hesitation.” You commented.

“EXCUSE ME?”

“Oh!” Flushing pink, you shook your head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud. I just meant that you had no hesitation in saying your name. I admire that.” 

He shot you a look of confusion.

“See, Blue corrected himself this morning while we were talking. But I told him it’s alright to call himself whatever he wanted to when it was just the two of us. He was so happy when I said that.” You held a proud smile while explaining, then added, “It makes me happy that you were able to do it without anyone’s encouragement, is all.”

Edge turned away to hide the slight blush on his skull. “IT WAS NEVER A PROBLEM IN THE FIRST PLACE FOR ME! I DO NOT NEED ANY “PUSH” OR ENCOURAGEMENT FROM PEERS IN ORDER TO STATE WHO I TRULY AM!”

“That’s the spirit!” You cheered. 

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH.” He bluntly said in response.

Holding your hands up in defeat, you chuckled a bit. “Fine, fine. Let’s get back to what we were doing.”

You combined a good part of the components into the pan you had grabbed, and set it in the oven for twenty five minutes. “We need to cook these before they are added to the broth. It’ll add a nice flavor to the soup.”

“WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO WHILE WAITING FOR THAT TO COOK?” He asked, scrunching his skeletal brows for the umphteenth time that day. 

“Well, we have two options. We can start on the broth for the soup, or we can wait fifteen minutes and then start the broth after stirring what’s in the oven. I personally prefer to wait, it gives my hand a little rest time since I usually have to do everything myself.” You shuddered at the memories of your poor hand cramping up after cutting up that many ingredients at once. 

Your poor, poor wrist. One day, you’d have severe carpal tunnel.

“WE SHALL DO AS YOU PREFER.” Edge simply stated, placing his knife in the sink to be washed later.

“Sounds good then. I’m gonna grab us a couple of drinks, keep an eye on the oven.”

Edge observed your retreat up the stairs, disappearing from his line of sight. He allowed a small huff to escape him, and took the temporary time he had alone to recover. There was a single question itching at the back of his mind to be answered.

Why in the world was he so bemused by you?

You were the second human he had ever gotten the chance to see, so it was a given that he should be somewhat curious as to what you did, how you acted, and other things around those topics. But why was he spending more time than necessary with you?

Was it the way your smile managed to capture the others around you? Or was it the fact that he admired your passion whenever you managed to delve into anything you enjoyed? The confidence you had radiated when he first started to cook with you was definitely a factor in his off brand behavior. Even he was starting to become freaked out by it. 

The skeleton shook his head, trying to clear it of these absurd thoughts. 

There was zero chance that he had developed any positive feelings towards you in the few weeks you had known each other.

Was there?

No. Absolutely not. He would not allow there to be any sort of attachment here in this world.

You’d have to try harder than that to earn his friendship and respect.

“Hey, I’m back, miss me much?” You snickered as you descended the stairs, with two glasses of ice water in hand.

The skeleton effortlessly brushed off his previous internal monologue. “NOT AT ALL.”

“Well, that’s good,” you said, handing him one of the drinks. “Wouldn’t want you getting lonely or anything.” 

He took a long sip of the refreshment and sighed at the cool sensation that lingered in his mouth. “THERE IS A MINUTE LEFT UNTIL THE FOOD MUST BE STIRRED, SO I SUGGEST THAT YOU HURRY UP AND DIRECT ME THROUGH THE NEXT STEPS.”

You raised an eyebrow at him, but set your drink down and allowed yourself to settle back into your chef mode. “If you say so.”

Giving him a little more detail on what would be happening next, you kept taking small glances at Edge every now and again. The air around him seemed different from when you last saw him. His permanent scowl had returned, leaving his frown more prominent than before.

The oven went off, causing you to turn to him. “Now, while you flip everything over, I’m going to start the chicken broth. It’ll need to be brought to a boil before we add everything else to it. When the rest of the ten minutes is up on the oven, we’ll broil it for a little while and then mix everything together with a hand blender.”

As Edge began his task, you grabbed a large pot from the rack across the room, bringing it to the stove and dumping in the chicken broth, leaving it to boil. After that, you cleaned up the counters and began to wash the dirty dishes in the sink. Edge joined you shortly after he had finished his work.

Once everything was cleaned and neatly put away, all that was left to do was wait for the oven to finish the broiling it had been switched over to, and then combine everything. 

You dug out your hand blender, setting it next to the stove for future use. 

“This has been pretty fun, don’t you think?”

Edge quirked a brow at this. “FUN? I HARDLY THINK SO.” He paused before continuing. “THOUGH I SUPPOSE IT HAS BEEN A LEARNING EXPERIENCE.”

“Damn. And I thought we hit the friendzone.” You casually took a sip of your water before chuckling. 

“NOT EVEN CLOSE.”

“Aw, that’s a damn shame. And I thought you were having a pretty nice time when we started.” You weren’t quite hurt as his denial, but more intrigued. Over the years, you’d somewhat developed an ability to read when people were irritated. You noticed the subtle tensing in people’s bodies, the way they huffed silently when they were starting to get annoyed, along with various other things. It was very easy to pick up when you lived with your mother.

So why was he just showing some of those signs now?

Maybe he pulled a you and took a one eighty in his mood? That was a possibility. Though you weren’t going to bother the skeleton with your questions, that wasn’t gonna stop you from thinking about all the possible answers.

“THE OVEN WENT OFF.”

Being jerked from your thoughts, you gave Edge a dumbfounded look before processing what he had said.

“Oh! Let me get that then.” You quickly opened the oven, grabbing the hot pan with a mit and setting it on the counter to allow it a moment to cool. A pang of satisfaction ran through you at the slight charring of the tomatoes; it was perfect.

“This is probably the best batch I’ve ever made so far. This is gonna be so good with the other things I have planned for dinner!” 

“WE’RE MAKING MORE?” Edge shook his head.

“Well technically, you don’t have to help. I plan on making something for dessert after we finish the soup, then the second part of dinner will have to be made when everyone else is here to eat. It’s made to be eaten fresh.”

Bringing the pan over to the boiling broth, you carefully poured in the contents and watched as it mixed in with the rest. You then added a small amount of heavy cream, before picking up the hand mixer. 

“Battery powered hand mixer,” you explained. “Just flip this switch right here, and blend everything until it’s nice and smooth. Got it?” You held it out to the skeleton, and he took it with little hesitation. 

“THIS SEEMS LIKE A COMPLICATED DISH FOR HOW SIMPLE YOU SAY IT IS.” Edge commented as he started the mixer.

“You get used to it,” you said, nodding in approval as he worked with little issue. “I have this recipe, along with plenty of others, ingrained in my dumb brain. It’s always nice to just be able to make things without putting too much thought into it, plus it’s simpler than a lot of other things I make on a daily basis.”

“AH.”

“Yeah.”

Once Edge was finished, you took a spoon and dipped it into the soup for a taste. It was delicious. Offering the spoon to Edge, you smiled. “Taste the creation.”

He accepted the spoon and took a sip. After a moment of thought, he nodded in approval. “THIS IS STRANGELY GOOD FOR A HUMAN DISH. THOUGH I SUPPOSE IT WAS MEANT TO BE GOOD IF IT WAS PREPARED BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” He gave a small cackle.

“Glad to hear you like it. For now, we’re gonna take it upstairs and keep it out of the way. I have a specialty of mine up next.” You smirked at the thought of your next dish.

“I FEEL AS IF THIS SHALL BE INTERESTING TO WATCH. I’LL STICK AROUND FOR THIS AS WELL.” He decided, before bringing the soup upstairs.

You could already feel your baker’s mindset settling in as you gathered what was needed. You were absolutely ecstatic to show the grumpy skeleton what you were made of.

Turns out you had made more of the dessert than you thought you would.

Oh boy.

There were four pans of brownies sitting in front of you. You were absolutely worn out from all the time you’d just spent preparing the batches, then waiting for all four of them to cook and cool. 

“I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU MANAGED TO MAKE THIS MUCH OF THIS ACCURSED DESSERT.” Edge said, munching on a brownie you had given him. 

“Yeah, me neither. At least it’ll last us a while?” You paused. “Probably.”

“IF THOSE SUGAR HIGH IMBECILES DON’T INHALE THEM ALL IN ONE SITTING, AT LEAST.”

Giggling, you gave the skeleton a light punch to his ulna. “If worst comes to worst, we can always make more. Let’s take these upstairs.” You grabbed two of the brownie pans, sighing at the fact they were actually pretty heavy, contrasting their appearance. 

Edge allowed you to go first up the stairs, and after a moment of struggling with the doorknob, you both entered your home. You got right to work at cutting up the brownies into even pieces and moving them to a couple of large containers. After that was finished, you quickly put them out of sight so no one would discover the baked goods. 

“Remember, the brownies are a surprise. If you say anything, I’m going to personally kick your ass.”

“TCH. I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY." He didn't seem concerned for the treat in the slightest.

You chuckled and looked at your phone, realizing that the two of you had been in the kitchen longer than you thought. It was now four thirty. You did end up having about an hour of a break with Edge earlier, so that would explain the extended time. 

Your attention was soon captured by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. “Ah, that must be Blue and Pap.”

It was confirmed a moment later when they opened the door to see you and Edge standing around your kitchen island.

"WE HAVE RETURNED!" Papyrus announced, taking his boots off as he beamed at you. Blue followed suit, then he sprinted over and gave you a wet hug as a greeting. You shuddered at the sudden realization that the two were soaking wet.

"HELLO MISS (Y/N)! I MUST SAY THANK YOU FOR THE DELICIOUS SANDWICHES!"

That caught you slightly off guard, but you smiled at the small skeleton. "Of course. I'm glad you two enjoyed them. Did you have enough of the park or something? Why are you guys all wet?"

"WELL, ABOUT THAT," Papyrus laughed a little bit, recalling what had happened. "IT STARTED TO POUR WHEN WE WERE WALKING AROUND THE PARK AFTER LUNCH. WE HAD ONLY ABOUT AN HOUR TO WANDER, BEFORE THE RAIN CUT OUR TIME SHORT." He gestured to the wet clothes he had on.

"Oh, I see. That's alright, at least we can have dinner right when the other guys get home. For now, do you guys just wanna chill?”

“THAT WOULD BE WONDERFUL, BUT PERHAPS WE SHOULD CHANGE FIRST!” Blue said, pulling away from the hug so you could see how soaked your clothes had become.

“I suppose I’ll change too.” You chuckled, and followed Blue and Paps up the stairs, but turned at the first door to enter your room. It was dark and cold from the lack of use today, which made you frown.

You changed as fast as you could, and came back to see Papyrus starting up Mario Kart. Blue bounced excitedly next to the taller skeleton.

“WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN, (Y/N)?” Papyrus asked with child-like excitement in his eyelights. 

“Yeah sure Paps! I presume Blue is gonna join.” You glanced at the third skeleton who was sitting in his chair. “You wanna join too, Edge?”

He scoffed at you. “AND PARTICIPATE IN SOME MEANINGLESS COMPETITION? NO THANKS.”

“Aw come on, it’ll be fun! Besides, a little racing never hurt anyone.” 

The skeleton contemplated the decision for a moment, but sighed in the end. He truly was weak, he thought, if he was giving in to your demands. “FINE. GIVE ME A CONTROLLER SO I CAN DECIMATE ALL OF YOU PLEBEIANS.”

You all laughed before beginning a race.


	13. Suck it Up Buttercup, We're all Here for You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get to go hang out with the peeps down the street! But a nervous feeling nags at you when you get home. What could be so bad that even your very confused gut worried about it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW!! Talk about eating disorders and such in the chapter, please be wary!

“ya sure it’ll be fine here?” Red glared at the damned machine that he and his duplicates were tasked with fixing, tempted to chuck the tool kit he currently had at it. “seems that it has a… mind of its own.”

They were currently Underground, back at Sans' lab in Snowdin, where the machine had somehow transported itself back to after its explosive exit from his former place on the surface.

Sans thought for a moment, and shrugged. “i think it should be fine? if it chose to end up back here, then i guess it likes it better in the lab…”

Red scoffed at his counterpart. “great, now the machine has an opinion. fantastic.”

The orange clad skeleton sitting across the room sipped a bottle of honey. “don’t diss the machine, it might not like what it hears.”

“IT’S A FUCKIN’ MACHINE!” He shouted, throwing his arms up into the air. “how th’ fuck is it even sentient anyways??” He turned to Sans, who held his hands up to signal that he really didn’t know.

“i’ve been trying to figure that out myself for a long time, buddy.” He sighed, and closed his eyes to see “him”.

“gaster was always a brilliant scientist. i can’t even begin to comprehend everything he’s ever accomplished, much less break it apart to understand it. not even when i worked alongside him.” Sans reminisced in the memory for a moment longer before pushing it to the back of his mind once more. “but now that we’re all here, we might have a chance at making it work. hopefully.”

Stretch gave a whistle. “that’s the spirit. though i think we should end it for today. the others should be eating soon, and i wanna see my bro before he heads to bed.”

Sans glanced at the clock he recently installed in his lab, nodding in agreement. “sounds good to me.”

When they arrived in your living room, they were met with a scene of chaos. 

You glanced at the skeletons with a goofy smile. “Hey guys! How did your ominous disappearance go?” Currently, you were sitting on the couch, having a great time watching a one vs one Mario Kart race between Papyrus and Edge.

Getting the skeletons into this game was a mistake. 

And you were fully on board for the competition and mayhem it brought. 

Blueberry was currently sitting next to you, completely enamoured with what was going on in the game. Papyrus and Edge were fully immersed in trying to dominate the other in the race. 

“are we interrupting something?” Stretch tilted his skull slightly at the scene before him. 

You shrugged. “There is an intense battle going on right no- OH MY GOD YOU JUST THREW A BLUE SHELL- NOW IS YOUR CHANCE PAPYRUS!!” You shook said skeleton’s shoulders intensely, being sucked back into what was going on. “KICK HIS ASS!!!”

Papyrus faltered a little at your excitement, but managed to snatch the lead from Edge as they turned the final corner and could see the finish line up ahead. 

Blue ran his hands over his skull. “COME ON EDGE, YOU CAN PULL THROUGH!! KEEP GOING!”

Edge just about threw the controller he was using behind him when he took second place by a hair.

You stood up from your seat, throwing your arms around Papyrus when he stood up as well. “YOU DID IT!!” He spun you around while he returned the hug.

Once the two of you were finished celebrating, Papyrus set you down and put his hands on his hips triumphantly. “NOW PAY UP! WE BEAT YOU FAIR AND SQUARE!”

Blue gave an ‘aw’ of disappointment as he dug a twenty out of his pocket and gave it to Papyrus. Edge did the same, seething with rage as he slammed the money into your hand. “I FIND IT PREPOSTEROUS THAT YOU MANAGED TO CONQUER OUR UNBEATABLE TEAM IN THIS GAME. I REFUSE TO TAKE PART IN ANY MORE BETS YOU SUGGEST.”

“What, afraid you’ll lose again?” You challenged, smirking with satisfaction.

He went to retort, but was cut off by a very confused Sans.

“wait, you guys were gambling??” He asked, absolutely baffled by what he had just seen play out. You paused for a second.

“I mean, technically, it wasn’t gambling, it was a simple bet-”

“THAT INVOLVED A LARGE AMOUNT OF MONEY!” Papyrus finished, grinning at his brother as he proudly held up his prize.

“oh stars, what have you done to my brother.” Sans said, chuckling at how accomplished Paps looked. “i guess i can’t be mad though, as long as there wasn’t anything important involved.”

“Oh, we one hundred percent put your share of the brownies Edge and I made on the line.” You proudly stated. Sans went slack-jawed at the statement.

"BUT WE WON, SO IT'S ALRIGHT!" Papyrus cheered, picking up his brother to hug him. Sans relaxed in his embrace, glad to be back home where he could ground himself.

Edge glanced at the time, and gave a "hmph" of approval. "HUMAN, DO YOU BELIEVE THAT IT IS TIME FOR EVERYONE TO TASTE OUR CREATION?" 

You smiled. "Sure Edge, but we have one more thing to prepare before everyone can eat." 

He quirked a nonexistent brow at this, which only caused you to chuckle as you strut into the kitchen and pulled out bread, a block of cheese, and some butter.

"I don't know how other people usually do it, but growing up, I usually paired one thing with the tomato soup I made. And that," you held up your cheese, giving a large smile. "Is grilled cheese sandwiches." 

Edge immediately caught on to what you were implying. A confident smirk formed on his skull.

You glanced down at the ingredients, faltering slightly when you realized that everyone would be expecting you to eat with them. 

"I… I have an errand to run though, so I'm gonna run through how to make one, and then I'll leave the rest to you, Edge. You're a quick learner, so everything should be fine." His eyes narrowed at your statement, but he nodded in understanding. 

"FINE. TEACH ME HOW TO MAKE A 'GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH'."

Turns out Edge picked it up quicker than you thought he would. It was fairly simple to prepare, and he had them cooking with ease when you let him do his own thing. 

“Alright, if you've got it then it's time for me to leave.” You looked over to the lazier bunch sitting on the couch. “Please make sure they don’t burn the house down. I don’t want to empty my poor wallet paying for repairs.”

Sans gave you a thumbs up, and you nodded in return as you put on your coat and sneakers. “I’ll be back, see you guys later!”

A flurry of goodbyes were thrown your way, which made you descend the stairs with a goofy smile plastered on your face.

Humming quietly, you double checked the lock on the front door before stuffing your hands in your pocket and striding down the sidewalk to get to the goods store you adored.

You walked in, the bell ringing to signify that someone had arrived. 

"Rejoice, for your favorite person is here!" 

The asian boy standing at the front counter sighed, but smiled at you nonetheless. "Hey (Y/n). Been a little bit, hasn't it?"

You gave him a small grin, walking over and high-fiving the boy. "It has been way too long for my piece of mind, Asashi. Though I suppose you can't help working in that garage." 

Since you met Asashi when he was thirteen, he always had a knack for tinkering and fixing things. You were amazed at his skills, and whole-heartedly couldn't wait for him to pursue his passion and become a mechanic.

"Well, Mom did say that if I could fix the car, it's mine." He smirked, thinking back to when he first found the older Mustang model.

"I'm still pretty sure it was more of a sarcastic statement than a challenge, but yeah, I guess." 

"Who's talking about me?" 

Your eyes lit up at the familiar voice of the owner of the shop. "Mrs. Greywood! It's been so long since I last saw you!" The auburn haired woman walked around to give you a gentle hug. 

"Please (Y/n), don't make me feel old." She released you in favor of going back to grab your usual order. "What brings you here on a Sunday?"

"Sorry Ellie. I figured I would visit for a little bit while picking up some more of your heavenly goods." 

"Sounds accurate." Asashi commented.

"Listen," You chuckled. "My roommates seem to really like the coffee- not that I can blame them. So I need to start coming a bit more often." 

Ellie smiled. "Roommates, huh? Sounds exciting." She let out a small laugh. "Back in the military, we had to share rooms with others of our rank. Of course, I was in the medical ward, so I was rooming with other doctors, which was only a couple others on the base."

"Mom, you don't have to talk about the military every opportunity you get." The boy said, rolling his eyes.

"I find it really cool." You responded.

"You'd better." Ellie gave a grin, setting your goods on the counter.

The entrance once again opened, and you turned to find the other two members of the household. "Oh, hey Izzie! And Minie!" 

Minie's milky eyes lit up at the familiar voice. "Miss (Y/n), I didn't know you'd be here today!" She ran over from her older sister, hugging you tightly. 

"Yeah, I figured I'd come to see you since this is my day off." She cheered in response as Isabelle came and gave you a quick hug. You paused for a moment, before remembering to grab both a nice bottle of whiskey, and some sweets for the other guys.

Ellie raised an eyebrow at your selection. "My roommates are uh… pretty cool guys. I figured I'd get them something nice."

She seemed even more skeptical.

Isabelle laughed at her mother. "We met one of them a bit ago, mom. Don't worry, he was a really nice guy. Minie liked him too."

Her confusion seemed to be dismissed at the approval of her eldest. "If you say so."

After another half hour of talking with the family, your attention was caught by the door opening once again. Red was standing there, with a not so thrilled look on his face.

"Red, what are you doing here?" You asked. He wandered over to you guys, a small grin replacing the frown he had. 

"eh, figured i'd see where ya decided to disappear to. had a hunch that you were here." The skeleton was then attacked with a hug by the little redhead who had been standing next to you prior.

"Mister Red! Hello!"

"'ey kid, 's nice to see ya again." He ruffled her hair, a sense of nostalgia for the kid back in his universe running through his mind.

Isabelle smiled at Red. "Pleasure to see you here again." She looked at Ellie. "Mom, this is one of (Y/n)'s roommates, Red. Him, his brother, and some of their cousins all live together if I recall."

Red gave a nonchalant wave to the older woman. "nice to meet ya." 

Ellie scanned the edgy skeleton, then smiled. She walked over, put a hand on his shoulder, and grabbed the other one to shake it.

Red gulped.

"It's nice to meet you too. Glad to see there are still good people out there that'll make friends with (Y/n)."

You gave a small shout of protest, crossing your arms. "For your information, I am a full grown woman perfectly capable of making friends. I'm just busy, is all."

"Sure you are, I'll believe you when you get a boyfriend." Asashi chuckled at you.

"I'm sure she can… It's just a matter of when she's ready." Isabelle defended you with a smile.

"Thank you Izzie, I'm glad someone is on my side here."

"But you should get a boyfriend soon. You're how many years older than me and haven't had a single one?" 

You paused, absolutely stunned at your friend's statement. 

"I see how it is." Turning away, you mocked anger and huffed. Minie took notice of this, and decided to make you feel better herself.

"I think Miss (Y/n) is wonderful!" She pat you on the back, glancing back at her siblings, but then turned to you. "Don't listen to them, they're just being mean!"

You looked at the little girl, blinking. Then, you smiled and picked her up.

"You are the sweetest girl in the world! We don't deserve your kindness!" She laughed as you spun her around, almost hitting the others around you both. 

Red glanced at the time. His amused expression fell.

"(y/n), i think we should head back." 

Putting the redhead down, you sighed. "I suppose we should, shouldn't we?" You handed over the money needed for your goodies. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys later."

Ellie waved you goodbye, returning to the back to do whatever she had to for the shop. Asashi held out his hand for a high five, which you gladly accepted before turning to the other two to exchange hugs before leaving with Red.

There was an immediate shift in the air once the two of you exited the shop. Glancing over, Red seemed tense about something. He had red beads of sweat on his skull, looking as if he was about to be sick from the stress of it. 

You put a hand on his shoulder about halfway to the cafe, stopping him.

“Are you alright?”

Red jerked around to face you, his sockets wide with surprise. 

“You seem really nervous… I just wanted to know if you wanted to talk about anything.” A little voice in the back of your head told you to leave it be, even though you were concerned about him.

“ah, it’s nothin’ you need to worry about right now.” Red said, a small grin coming to rest on his skull. You raised an eyebrow at him, but decided to leave it for now.

“Well, whatever it is, I’m always here to talk.” You smiled at him, seeing the skeleton relax a bit. 

The rest of the walk was pretty pleasant.

You opened the door to the cafe for Red, allowing him to walk in before you closed and locked the front entrance again. A pang of anxiety ran through you at the thought of seeing everyone again.

It'll be alright, you tell yourself.

Why were you nervous, anyway? It wasn’t going to be anything like the last time you felt like this, when Blue had ended up seeing you... 

You hoped not.

The both of you went up the stairs, reaching the door to your house. You looked at Red briefly, and offered a small smile before he opened it to allow you in. 

"Thanks." You said, wandering in and removing your shoes and coat.

"'s no problem sweetheart." Red replied, shooting a wink your way. Of course, back to his usual antics.

Papyrus was the first to notice you when the two of you walked in. He waved from his spot on the couch, a small smile resting on his face in contrast to his usual excitement. Sans was sitting next to his brother, dozing off.

Blue was settled at the table, concentrating on another puzzle book. You huffed in amusement at seeing him so quiet, but it was a nice change.

"Hey guys, what's up?" 

Edge looked up from his chair, apparently not pleased at your arrival. "SO YOU FINALLY DECIDED TO COME BACK."

You wanted to sigh, but gave a laugh nonetheless. "Yeah, well I did actually have an errand to run, believe it or not."

Edge scanned you and saw the bag you held. He scoffed, but went back to what he was doing.

Papyrus looked at the bag and raised a nonexistent eyebrow at it. "WHAT DO YOU HAVE THERE, (Y/N)?" 

You gave a small smirk at him as you padded over to the table and set it down. "Oh, it's nothing really. I just figured you guys would like some sweets is all."

Both his and Blue's eyelights glowed with excitement, watching you pull out the chocolate bars you got last time as well. They cheered at the thought of having the sweet again.

"I hope you guys enjoy them. And Red," You removed the bottle of whiskey from the bag. "I didn't know how much alcohol was left, so I got another bottle of the whiskey you really liked. It'll be in the cabinet you put the other one in."

He gave you a thumbs up from where he had settled on the couch. "thanks sweetheart."

Blue took a small peek at the bag from where he was at the table. "DID YOU GET ANY SWEETS FOR YOURSELF, (Y/N)?" 

Oof, that hurt. How do you explain that you didn't want to eat one of your favorite candies in the whole world? 

You gave a small chuckle. "No, I don't really like the chocolate sold there."

Red furrowed his nonexistent eyebrows at this. "i thought you said they were "to die for"?" 

Sans, who had apparently been awake for most of the conversation, decided to chime in. "huh. yeah, why does that contradict itself?"

Ah, so this is what the bad feeling you had earlier was about.

"I uh…" You trailed off, trying to search for a viable answer. "I'm on a diet?"

Note to self, slap yourself in the face later.

"YOU'RE ON A DIET?" Edge scoffed from his seat, closing the book he was reading. "THAT'S FUNNY. NONE OF THE BROWNIES WE MADE WERE A PART OF ANY DIET I'VE HEARD OF."

Oooooh shit.

The skeleton stood up from his seat, not even giving you time to respond as he strode over to you.

"COME TO THINK OF IT, I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU EAT ANYTHING THAT COULD BE CONSIDERED A DIETARY FOOD." He paused to narrow his eyes. "Much Less Any Food At All."

You were stunned at Edge's accusation. What could you say to that? He was right. You hadn't eaten anything around them at all in a while. The only times you ate were to numb the pain you felt from starving yourself.

Sans stood up, coming a little closer to the both of you. "hey bud, i don't think we should be throwing around stuff like that-"

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOT. THERE'S CLEARLY SOMETHING GOING ON THAT WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT." 

Your mind was blank on what to do. The guilt that you felt overwhelmed your soul, suffocating you with it's death grip. 

But you didn't want them to find out.

No, you couldn't let them find out.

You needed this.

"I…" You couldn't utter another word before you felt your gut contort more than it already had. You were too tired for this.

All eyes were on you.

Could you go on lying like this?

.  
.  
.

"He's right."

Sans looked at you with widened sockets. "what?"

"Edge is right." You said, letting out a sigh. "There has been something going on."

Hot tears welled up in your eyes, stinging them. You needed to do this. There wasn't any other option than to admit the truth. Your friends had the right to know everything about what has been happening to you, even if it could mean the end of your world. 

You took a deep breath. 

"I've been starving myself since I first met Sans and Papyrus. That's the gist of it, anyways." A tear streamed down your cheek as you continued, "I w-wasn't strong enough to push away that s-stupid voice in my head, and ever since I've wanted- no, needed to prove that I was worth more than what it has been telling me I was for years. Something more than… a f-failure."

You had finished with your tone barely above a whisper, shoulders trembling. Now, you couldn't bear to do more than stare at the ground, gripping the edge of your shirt in shame. 

Before you could protest, you felt arms wrap themselves around you. You immediately recognized them as Papyrus, giving one of the gentlest hugs you've ever received from him.

"... How Bad Is It Right Now?" He asked with uncertainty.

"I'm about eighty pounds. With a height of five foot even, that makes my BMI approximately fifteen point six. To put it into perspective, the normal BMI I'm supposed to have now is eighteen point six." You sighed from the repeated practice of calculating your weight. "So, severely underweight."

Papyrus tightened his hold on you slightly. You could feel him trembling, though you didn't know from what. Could he be mad?

No. That wasn't it. 

He was crying.

You looked to the side, making eye contact with Sans. He wasn't doing much better than his brother. 

"i… need some time alone." 

Sans was gone in an instant, disappearing from the room. Your heart clenched at the thought of him leaving you, but you didn't blame him one bit. It must've hurt knowing that someone that he thought of as a friend was suffering without him knowing.

As Papyrus released you, Blue approached. His shoulders were shaking, tears very present in his eyes.

"I'M SO SORRY… I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE HURTING ALL THIS TIME!" He hiccuped slightly before continuing. "IF I HAD KNOWN BETTER WHEN I SAW YOU, I COULD'VE HELPED YOU SOONER…"

You felt a small part of you shrivel up at the sight of Blue crying. Instead of responding, you embraced him warmly.

"It's alright, you don't have to blame yourself. After all, it was kind of my own fault I ended up here in the first place." You have a bitter chuckle at the thought. "It was just… So right in a way, y'know?"

Red, who had been silent the whole time, wandered over and put a skeletal hand on your shoulder. "what d'ya mean, sweetheart?"

"Well, think of it this way. What I'm doing can be treated like any other addictive, self destructive habit. Take smoking, for example," You let go of Blue to face everyone. "It destroys the human lungs when done for a long enough time. But the nicotine in it keeps luring you in, teasing you with a small high and leaving you begging for more. For me, it was the comfort of knowing that I wouldn't look anything near… Let's just say, unappealing.

"I've been dealing with this problem for years, actually. I only relapsed now because I thought I wasn't good enough for you guys." You laughed harshly at the thought.

"DON'T BE RIDICULOUS. YOU WERE HARDLY MANAGEABLE IN THE FIRST PLACE, WHY WOULD WE WANT ANYTHING MORE TROUBLESOME TO DEAL WITH?" Edge commented, before settling back down in his seat.

"aw look, the boss cares about ya." Red chuckled when he saw Edge shoot a glare his way.

You gave the salty skeleton a small smile, and then turned to face Blue and Papyrus "Well… Now that you know this has been happening, what's your stance on it?" 

Blue piped up immediately. "I WANT TO HELP YOU, (Y/N)!" 

You blinked. "H-Huh?"

He offered a kind smile, grabbing your hands gently. "I WANT TO HELP YOU NOT ONLY FEEL BETTER, BUT HELP YOU GET BETTER AS WELL. I DON'T WANT YOU TO SUFFER ANYMORE."

Papyrus nodded as well. "YOU'RE OUR FRIEND, WHY WOULDN'T WE WANT TO HELP?"

"they do have a point there." 

You looked over to the stairs, seeing Stretch leaning against the wall. "we're all here to support you, whether you like it or not. you're stuck with us." He threw a wink at you while smiling that lazy smile of his.

"glad to see you decided to join the party, lanky." Red commented, rolling his eyelights slightly at the skeleton's appearance.

"hey, i'm just glad to see that everything turned out alright." Stretch shrugged slightly, and slowly wandered over to you. "make sure to take care of yourself, kid. a lot of people care for you, y'know? we don't wanna see you hurt like this anymore."

You offered the skeleton a smile.

"Alright. I'll try my best." You wrapped your arms around his torso. "Thank you, guys. I… I don't know what I would've done without you all."

He returned the hug, chuckling. "it's no problem."

"yeah." Red agreed. "'sides, we wouldn't have anywhere to stay without you showing us kindness. 's the least we can do to repay you." 

"YES! YOU HAVE BEEN VERY KIND TO US, AND WE WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE HAPPY AS LONG AS WE ARE HERE!" Blue added, his usual grin once again returning.

Papyrus gave a wide smile. "YOU DESERVE TO BE ALRIGHT, (Y/N). I WON'T LET IT TURN OUT ANY OTHER WAY!"

You…

You truly had the greatest friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooh boy. This was a bit of a dozy, but it's here! I hope that you guys enjoy!  
> Whispers
> 
> Also I just made a new blog for tumblr  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/randomhailee  
> It'll be personalized soon I promise


	14. Confrontation? There's Snow Way to Avoid that

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans has been missing for a few days... it's about time that you got up and did something about it before you went insane.

“You know, I still find it ridiculous that you guys won’t let me work. I don’t need to be babysat.” 

The skeleton sitting beside you on the couch sighed, “well, can’t do much ‘bout it. bro said that in order for you to get better, you need to be eased back into a normal eating schedule. you can’t do that while you’re working nine hours a day.” Stretch chewed on one of his toothpicks.

“It’s only been three days and I feel like I’m gonna die,” you huffed.

“if this is how it’s gonna be the entire time, dust me now,” the skeleton joked. You turned to him, saw the all too familiar smirk he had on, and laughed.

You looked to the half-empty bowl of mac and cheese sitting in your lap, before sighing, “For real though, I don’t think I can eat this. My stomach feels like it’s about to explode.”

Stretch rose a nonexistent eyebrow at you, but shrugged. “i suppose that’s to be expected, since you went so long without eating normal sized meals. don’t force yourself to finish it.”

A wave of relief flowed through you at his forgiveness. "I thank you for your mercy." You took the bowl to the sink, rinsing it out and making sure to put the food through the garbage disposal before returning to the couch. The Mettaton show that was currently on didn't keep your attention anymore, so you started to switch through the channels as you drifted into thought.

It's been three days since the events of your exposure, and you couldn't help but end up thinking about Sans again. He’d looked broken as he had disappeared into thin air…

You really wanted to cry at the memory of his disappearance.

This really sucked.

After a few minutes of silence, you decided to break it with a question you’ve been itching to ask since Monday.

“Hey, Stretch?” you inquired.

“yeah kid?”

“Do you know where Sans went?”

He glanced over to you. “i have my suspicions. why d’ya ask?”

“Will you take me there?” You paused for a moment. “I know he probably wants to be alone, but he’s been gone for three days, and I can’t help but worry and think that I need to apologize to him… And with Edge, Paps, and Blue handling the shop, I have nothing else to do but be stuck in my own h-”

Stretch cut you off by standing up. “yeah, sure.” He let out a low sigh. “if he’s anything like me…’m sure he needs the company.”

Jumping up, you bounced with anticipation. “Really?! Thank you so much!” 

The skeleton shrugged. “not a problem. now c’mon, i know a shortcut there.” He then offered a bony hand, which you took with enthusiasm. He glanced down at you, a giant in comparison to your mere stature of five foot, and ensured you were ready. “hold on tight.”

In a mere second, you were transported to a very cold place, feeling the temperature difference immediately through your leggings and light sweater.

Stretch put a hand on your shoulder before you face planted, still being very disoriented from the teleport. You shook your head a bit, regaining control of your balance. You examined your surroundings, and was shocked to see where you were.

“Are we… in Snowdin?”

You gazed at the snowy scene around you. The town you were teleported to looked humble, and small from what you could see. It was currently clear of any snow falling, which made you question how the fresh layer had ended up here in the first place. 

Looking up, you were amazed by the ceiling of what looked like stars, but then you quickly corrected yourself, as they were actually shimmering rocks. 

“yup. figured sans would be here, too. i can sense his magic in th’ house.” He gestured to the cabin in front of you both, to which you were originally transported to.

It looked just like what Papyrus had described to you. 

The house looked quaint, but very humble and, quite frankly, adorable. It was made entirely out of wood, with christmas lights strung up on the rims and even a pirate flag hanging on the corner of the roof. You chuckled, figuring it was Papyrus’ addition.

“It’s a beautiful house. But, it’s a bit cold here,” you commented, looking at Stretch.

“mhm. it always snows here, for some reason. no one could ever figure out why, so we all learned to roll with it.” He approached the door, twisting the knob to find it unlocked. Strange, but alright. “c’mon, ‘m sure he’s waiting for you, kid.”

You nodded, letting him open the door for you. The house was nice and toasty from what you could feel standing in the doorway. 

“i’ll leave you to it. if ya need me, i’ll be out here waitin’ for ya.” He winked, pulling out a bear-shaped bottle of honey from his hoodie pocket. You gave him a quick thumbs up, and strided into the house, closing the door behind you.

The living room was normal looking enough; there was a green couch, a tv with a stand, and a table with what looked like a “pet rock" sitting on a plate resting on it (it's name was Phil, according to the little name tag sitting next to it), surrounded by sprinkles... and a sock with a pile of notes on it next to the tv stand.

You’d have to ask Paps about that later. 

The kitchen was directly in front of you, filled with your standard issue stove, fridge, and an unusually tall sink. You opted not to go in there for now, though you added it to the list of questions that was quickly growing.

You pressed on to the stairs that led to the upper level. The first door you saw was clearly Papyrus’ room, labeled with all sorts of “Caution” and “Do Not Enter!” signs. You smiled with a hint of fondness, pleased that he expressed himself like this even while trapped in the Underground.

The next door, in contrast to its partner, had no decorations of the sort on it. When you touched the doorknob, it was freezing, almost causing you to yelp from the initial shock. You inhaled, preparing yourself for what was to come.

You twisted the doorknob.

And was met with a locked door. 

You hissed a curse under your breath, dreading the fact that you’d have to talk to Sans through the door instead. Well, at least you could embarrass yourself without having to make eye contact.

You thought about what he might be doing right now. Was he alright? 

Well, he must not have been, judging from the abrupt leave he took.

Sans, of course, had been laying on his bed all this time. The skeleton couldn't find the motivation to get up and do anything, rather being alone with his thought to sort out some things in his mind.

He felt absolutely horrible for what he did, though. Why did he have to leave when you were most vulnerable?

When you had been telling him the truth?

A gentle knock came from the door, rousing Sans from the daze he had been in. “S… Sans?”

His soul went haywire when he heard your voice coming from the other side. How did you get here? When did you get here? How did you even know he was here in the first place-?

“Listen… I don’t even know if you’re in there, but…” You trailed off, giving a small groan. “God, I don’t even know how to start this. This is very awkward.”

Sans chuckled softly, sitting up from where he had been laying on his mattress. 

“I know you must be upset because of… well, you know. The thing that happened on Sunday. And, I really can’t blame you for that.” You paused. “I just wanted to come here… to apologize. I kept everything from you all for so long, and from you and Papyrus even longer. It wasn’t right of me.”

The skeleton listened intently as you continued, “I don’t know specifically if you’re mad at me, but I am going to own up to my own damn fuck ups and apologize nonetheless. I’m so sorry for everything that I did. I can’t excuse myself from not coming to you guys for help, and I know it must have hurt a lot to hear that I had been trying to work through my depression and self-worth issues on my own.”

“And-” Your voice broke, causing you to cut yourself off. 

You started once more. “And if you’re still mad about it all, I understand… Shit, I won’t even blame you if you decide to leave. I’ve known you all- Hell, have been living with you all for how long? You had every right to know. I just… I’m sorry.”

Sans could tell easily that you were trying not to cry. 

Should he leave you alone…? 

Ah, fuck it.

Sans stood up, marching over to the door. He was nervous, to say the least, but his soul couldn't bear the sound of you breaking down. 

Not again.

He fiddled with the lock for a moment, before tearing the door open with more force than he had meant to use. Sans was met with your surprised, tear-stained face, and felt a pang of hurt run through him at the sight. You went to say something, but he cut you off with a hug instead.

“‘s alright. you did nothin’ wrong pal, i promise.”

Your knees buckled, partly because your body was still frail and tired from your situation, and brought the two of you to the floor. Sans felt you bury your head into his shoulder and return the hug. 

“I’m so sorry-” you started, but were cut off by the skeleton hugging you tightly.

“don’t apologize. i’m not mad at you. not at all… i was upset with myself for not noticing that you had been hurting sooner. you have nothing to be sorry for.”

“But, I should’ve told you guys sooner. You deserved to know…”

“maybe we did, but that doesn’t matter now.” He rubbed comforting circles into the small of your back. “you’re okay now. well, for the most part.” The skeleton gave a small chuckle.

“Yeah… For the most part,” you echoed, laughing as well. You pulled away, looking him in the eyes. “Are you?”

Sans paused to contemplate the question. Then, he shrugged.

“had to rethink a few things, but… yeah. i‘m okay, for the most part.” Sans offered a small grin. “just glad to see ya again. sorry ‘bout that disappearing act, by the way. i didn’t exactly have the guts to face ya at the time, when you filled us in on what was happening.”

“... Was that a pun?” you questioned.

“maybe.” Sans said with a cheeky grin.

“Jesus Christ.” You chuckled, shaking your head at the joke. You should've known he would go straight to making you feel better. “And I thought we were having a moment.”

“are we not? i thought i was just being completely transparent right now.”

“Not with those horrible jokes you aren’t.”

“harsh.”

You snorted, lightly shoving the skeleton while cringing at his joke. “You are absolutely unhumerous.” You sighed. “Buuuut, I suppose that’s what makes you such a great guy.”

Sans, picking up on your pun, grinned at you with a look of fondness. He stood up and held out his hand to you, which you gratefully accepted. He pulled you up with ease, and you landed with a soft “oomph” against his ribcage. You took the opportunity to give him another hug, this time filled with joy.

“I missed you, y’know. Don’t do this shit again. I don’t think my poor trauma filled heart could take it.” The skeleton hugged you back almost instantly, patting you on the back.

“i’ll give ya a warning next time, then. sound good?”

“A compromise, I suppose,” you responded with a smile.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, you decided it was finally time to return home. You pulled back from Sans, then started to lead him back to the stairs by playfully looping your arm with his. “Come on bonehead, we should get home. Your brother has been worried sick about you.”

Sans groaned at the thought. “uhhh... oops? guess i owe him an apology as well.”

“No shit sherlock.”

When you both exited the house, Stretch was still there, as promised- but he was now leaning up against the house, asleep with a toothpick in his mouth. You were truly amazed by the napping capabilities of the lazier skeletons.

“Eyo Stretch, are you ready to go?” You asked, and saw him pop up immediately, as if he hadn’t been sleeping just a second beforehand.

“yeah, ‘m all set.” He glanced at Sans. “you two sort everything out?” 

You nodded, offering a large grin. “Yeah, everything’s all good!” Sans gave a thumbs up, leaning his skull on your shoulder while waiting.

“well then, everythin’ seems to be perfect then.” Stretch gave a lazy grin, happy to see the two of you back to talking again. He felt your soul leap with excitement, which in exchange, made him thrilled that you were once again feeling better. He didn’t like seeing you miserable from the aftermath of what had transpired on Sunday.

“Let us be off!” You cheered, grabbing Stretch and pulling him over as well to link your arms together. It felt amazing to be able to do this with your friends again.

“y’know, i really don’t understand why this bitch had to exist in the first place.” Red scoffed, rolling his eyelights harshly at the movie that was currently playing. “she adds nothin’ to the humor of the movie.” 

“Listen, you’ll one day come to love the stupid characters. Especially in Pixar movies. Plus, the movie is absolutely funnier when a fish with short term memory loss is inserted into the equation. You just have no taste,” you retorted, elbowing him in the ribs slightly. 

“dory should be put in a meat grinder,” he mumbled, before turning back to the movie.

“wow, don’t be so hard on the fish. it isn’t her fault her brain decided to be all wack and dispose of her memories every two seconds,” Sans said, before reaching into the bowl of popcorn in his lap, shoving another piece into the void that was his mouth.

“look, she even managed to befriend some sharks,” Stretch pointed out, hearing the newly introduced fish chant the words “Fish are friends, not food.”

The edgy skeleton grumbled, but shut his mouth nonetheless. After all, if he was truly not enjoying Finding Nemo, he could pass out for the rest of it. It wouldn’t be too hard, as long as the room remained mostly dark like it was now.

Shortly after the halfway point in the movie, the other three residents entered the apartment, making you pause the movie. 

“Hey guys! How did running the cafe go today?” You beamed at them, earning a smile from Blue. 

“OH, IT WENT FAIRLY WELL! THERE WERE NO TROUBLES WITH THE CUSTOMERS OR WORKING THE REGISTER LIKE THERE WAS YESTERDAY!”

You sighed in relief. “Well, that’s good to hear. Remind me to pay you guys for working there when I start back up.”

“NONSENSE. YOU WERE CLEARLY TOO UNWELL TO COMPLETE THE JOB YOURSELF, SO IT WAS ONLY FAIR THAT WE TOOK OVER FOR YOU,” Edge commented, settling down in his usual spot. You allowed a sly grin to show; the skeleton was clearly mellowing out. You were proud of the progress he had been making.

Papyrus rushed over to the couch, immediately picking up Sans. 

“‘sup bro,” the smaller brother said.

Papyrus could only grin as he held Sans close. “HELLO SANS, I AM GLAD TO SEE YOU HAVE RETURNED! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” 

“yeah... i‘m sorry ‘bout that, by the way. i left without sayin’ anything, and i feel really bad about that.”

“IT IS ALRIGHT! I UNDERSTAND WHY YOU DID IT, AND WILL LOVINGLY FORGIVE YOU!”

You took a peek at the time, the clock reading seven fifteen. That was perfect, actually. 

“Hey, dinner should actually be ready now. You guys wanna eat?” you asked.

A cluster of ‘yes’ and ‘yeah’s came from the crowd of skeletons, which was good enough for you. You retreated to the kitchen, peeking in the oven. To much of your satisfaction, the casserole was perfectly baked through. “Food’s done, come get it!”

Everyone gathered at the table, save for Blue and Papyrus, who assisted you in setting the table. 

Once servings were dished out, all of you enjoyed the meal.

Shortly after dinner, you headed up to bed, not giving your stomach the chance to protest the large amount of casserole you had eaten. Sleep, thank goodness, was able to come quickly thanks to your worries being diminished for the day.

“y’know m’lord… can’t say that i’m protesting this new human we’ve got here.” 

You glanced around you, the unfamiliar space immediately giving you goosebumps. Where were you?

It was dark, but you could see an obvious window to the outside blocked by thick curtains. There was a mattress you were sitting on, completely bare of any sheets or blankets. Otherwise, the room was empty, with the exception of the table and lamp that sat next to the door.

You had absolutely no clue where you were.

“Silence, You Mongrel. No Insolent Human Wants To Hear Your Attempts At Flirting With Them.” The smaller skeleton snapped, glaring at his brother as a warning. 

“‘m just sayin’, she’s pretty cute.” He cooly replied, shrugging. His gold tooth gleamed in the dim light. His jacket was all fluffed up, the black contrasting the white fur that lined the hood. The jeans and sweater he wore were surprisingly clean.

The shorter ones red pupils shined with no hint of kindness in them. His crimson scarf was a stark contrast the the leather uniform he was wearing, with red accents to match it as well.

The so-called "Papyrus" pulled on the collar around your neck, smirking at the sight before him. “though i don’t like her in the collars as much as you do.” You shuddered at the smell of rust that lingered on him. 

“Get your hands off me,” you spat, eyes set aflame in defiance against the newly discovered brothers. 

“Oh?” “Sans" questioned, striding over to you. He leaned forward to look you in the eyes.

“And What Makes You Think You Can Do Anything To Either Of Us?”

You chuckled, huffing at his attempt to be intimidating. “I’ll figure something out as I go. One thing I am sure of though, is that you’re all talk. The doggy has no bite, either.”

The pair of brothers looked at you, almost confused. “Sans” reached out to you, grabbing your chin and tilting your head up. He laughed darkly at your attempt to make big talk. “Nice Try, But Better Luck Next Time, Human.”

You felt multiple sharpened bones impale your abdomen, causing you to let out a shrill scream before you were cut off by your throat clogging up with blood. 

“Papyrus” sighed from the spot he had backed away to. “damn, ‘nd i thought she’d be worth the catch.”

A moment later, you jolted up from the position you had been sleeping in, eyes wide with alarm. You glanced around, only to find that you were safe, in your room.

Oh.

It was just a dream?

What the fuck... Why had that seemed so realistic?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whispers  
> Next chapter is gonna be canon to the story, so do keep in mind even though it is celebrating the holidays, it is part of the story


	15. I'll Hallow Your Ween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halloween has arrived! You and your housemates are going to be trick or treating for the first time with some special guests.

“Shit.” 

You fumbled again, trying to put your hair up in a ponytail to the best of your ability. Maybe you should just wait for Izzie to get here?

Nah, you could manage.

It took a few minutes, but eventually you got your hair to cooperate. Once it was up, you stood in front of the mirror, smiling. 

You looked…different, to say the least. Your skin looked healthier, a nice warmer color instead of the unsaturated and dull shade it was when you had been depriving yourself of food. You had also gained some pounds, which put you back in the average range, and made you look less like skin and bones when you wore clothing tighter than your usual attire. 

It was a good change.

That’s what you told yourself every day, for the past four weeks.

And you were pretty happy about it now.

The pink uniform and yellow sneakers you had on fit perfectly, and completed your costume. You nodded to yourself, before dashing out your door and down the stairs to do a last sweep of your apartment, making sure it was ready for the party you decided to host.

Cool decorations? Check. Plenty of food for everyone? Check. Movies, popcorn, and desserts? Check, check check!

You were officially ready for Halloween.

"Alright, everything's ready!" You called up the stairs, signalling that it was alright for the others to come down and reveal their costumes. "You guys can stop hiding from me now! Come on down!"

It was completely silent.

And then, you heard it.

"HERE WE COME!" 

Before you could tell them to stop, you quite literally felt the whole room shake from the three skeletons that came down the stairs first. When you saw them though, you lost all train of thought and grinned widely. "Oh my god, you guys are adorable!"

The edgy skeleton dressed as Waluigi scoffed at your reaction. "I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT I AM SOMETHING AS SLANDEROUS AS… "ADORABLE". THOUGH, I SUPPOSE IT IS THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS!" Edge smirked, tugging on the overalls he was wearing, and striking a confident pose, with one of his hands on his hip, and the other positioned on his chest.

On the other hand, Papyrus and Blue took the compliment without any hesitation.

"YOU REALLY THINK SO, (Y/N)? THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" Papyrus said.

Blue jumped up high in the air out of pure excitement, mimicking the red clad plumber he was dressed as. "IT WAS A TOUGH DECISION BETWEEN MARIO AND A VAMPIRE KING!"

"I think Mario suits you better." You switched your gaze to Papyrus, who was the green counterpart to Blue. "And Luigi was an amazing choice for you, Paps!"

"I HOPED YOU WOULD AGREE! IT WAS A GLORIOUS IDEA FROM SANS, SO HE AND STRETCH COULD DO WHAT THEY WANTED FOR THEIR COSTUMES!" Papyrus leaned in a little bit, lowering his voice slightly. "Though I Do Suspect That They Are Plotting Something That Involves Laziness."

You almost burst out laughing at the way his eye sockets narrowed as he thought about that.

"you're so smart, bro, how did you guess?" A voice came from behind the trio of loud skeletons, which you quickly discovered Sans was the source of.

He was there with Stretch and Red, and their costumes were, surprisingly, kind of endearing as well.

They were all dressed in oversized onesies, first of all, which did not surprise you in the least. But what did catch you off guard was the fact that they matched perfectly. 

Sans was dressed as Squirtle, Red as Charmander, and Stretch as Bulbasaur. Your geeky side almost threatened to resurface from the depths of your soul where you had left it.

"I never thought you three would put this much effort into anything…" you said bluntly, but smiled. "I'm proud!"

Papyrus held a hand up in protest, but gave up immediately and sighed. "YOU KNOW WHAT? I'LL TAKE WHAT I CAN GET. I AM ALSO PROUD, SANS!"

The vanilla skeleton grinned up at his brother, clearly glad that he was able to make him happy.

Satisfied with what everyone had chosen, you pulled out your phone, shooting a text over to both Toriel and Isabelle, saying you were ready for everyone to come over when they were.

Red wandered over, slinging an arm around your shoulders. "what are you supposed to be, sweetheart? ya never told us what this was." He gestured down at the cosplay you had purchased. 

"Oh, me?" You chuckled. "I decided to be Chihiro, the main character from Spirited Away! It's one of my favorite movies of all time. These are the work clothes she wears in the movie." 

Papyrus perked up at the name. "I DO BELIEVE ALPHYS HAS MENTIONED THAT NAME BEFORE! IS IT AN ANIMATED FILM?" 

You snapped your fingers, signaling that he had gotten it right. "Bingo. It's made by Studio Ghibli in Japan. They have produced some of the best stuff for sure. I'll have to sit you guys down and have a marathon with all the Ghibli movies soon."

"sounds like a plan," Stretch commented, a toothpick between his teeth. "can't wait for it after the harry potter one. and all the disney and pixar movies you got lined up for us as well."

You paused. 

"I feel very called out right now, so I am choosing to ignore that comment." 

The response you were given was a chorus of laughter from your housemates.

"Anyways, I do wanna give a small last minute rundown of what is happening tonight. Sound good?" You quickly changed the subject, hoping to avoid any further embarrassment as your face heated up.

"ENLIGHTEN US." Edge rolled his eyes at you.

Deciding to brush off his remark, you briefly explained the plans for tonight.

"Okay, so. We're all gonna chill here for a little bit and wait for the others to arrive, and then split up into groups for trick or treating. Sans and Papyrus, you guys are gonna be with Frisk, Toriel, Undyne, Alphys, and Flowey, correct?"

"yep. kid wanted us to come along since we haven't been hanging out as much as we used to, so me an' paps figured it'd be nice to go with them for trick or treating," Sans cooly responded, shrugging.

"Awesome." You looked at Red. "You and Edge are gonna be tagging along with Izzie and them, right?"

He nodded. "yup. minie seemed pretty adamant on us hangin' again. plus, she wants to see th' boss again. can't deny her that "privilege"." Red gave you a knowing look, nudging you playfully with his elbow.

Edge almost smacked Red for that comment.

Almost.

"Okay, then that leaves Stretch, Blue, and I. We're gonna be venturing out together. And I shall be your personal, unreliable navigator." You snickered at your new self proclaimed title.

"PLEASE TELL ME YOU ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO GET AROUND THE CITY," Blue said, looking at you with wide eye sockets.

"I mean… I would hope so?" you responded, raising an eyebrow. "I have lived here for quite a while, so I'd hope I know how to get through the city."

Blue sighed in relief. "OKAY, GOOD. I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO END UP SAVING THE DAY IF WE GET LOST! AFTER ALL, TONIGHT IS ALL ABOUT US OBTAINING CANDY!"

Your conversation was interrupted by a polite knock on the door to the stairs, then the door swung open without anyone answering it. Your blonde bestie walked in, smiling. 

"Wow, way to barge in," you sarcastically commented, knowing full well that she had a spare key.

"Well, we wouldn't have to "barge in" if you’d answered your phone, you know." Izzie giggled, before walking over and greeting you with a hug. 

Ellie, Asashi, and Minie followed in shortly afterwards, greeting all of the skeletons.

"Hello boys, nice to see you again." Ellie said, seeing them all straighten up when she even so much as glanced at them. The auburn haired woman gave a hearty laugh at their reactions.

"What is it, are you still scared of what I did last time?"

"oh, absolutely," Red said, an evil grin spreading across his skull at the memory. The scene of her first meeting with the whole menagerie of skeletons had been… quite an interesting one, to say the least. 

Let's just say, you didn't think any of the skeletons would test the older woman's patience again.

"s'alright though, i personally think it's badass as hell."

Ellie grinned, patting the skeleton on the back when she approached him. "Glad to see I haven't scared away one of you, at least!"

"You didn't scare me away-" you interjected, but were met with a "shh" from the veteran.

"You're stuck with us either way, so your opinion on the matter doesn't count."

You roll your eyes at her as she hugs you. "Oh, gee, thanks."

"No problem," she said, releasing you, only for you to be tackled by the little redhead that you oh so adored. 

"Miss (Y/n)! Happy Halloween!" Minie cheered, hugging you tightly. It was a miracle that you didn't land on your ass then and there, but you stood your ground with the child in your arms.

"Happy Halloween to you too, Minie. It's nice to see you again!"

Her smile faltered for a moment, but the energetic child quickly recovered by moving to greet the others, who she absolutely loved as well.

Her, Blue, and Papyrus had hit it off right away, all of them having limitless energy. They were some of the only ones able to keep up with each other for a longer amount of time.

Although it was a little hard due to the child being mostly blind, the two skeletons made up for it by offering to give Minie as many rides on their shoulders as she wanted.

Asashi gave you a fist bump, like usual, before wandering over to Stretch and Sans. They got along surprisingly well.

After a few minutes of greeting one another, everyone decided it would be better to migrate down to the cafe, where there was more space and seating.

“By the way (Y/n), I appreciate your choice of costume for this Halloween. Chihiro is a good fit for you!” Izzie said, looking more closely at your costume now.

“Thank you.” You glanced over to the others. "Speaking of, I see you guys decided to geek out with your costumes this year," you observed, ecstatic to see that the family had amazing costumes. 

She giggled in response. "Yeah. Minie picked them out, actually. I think Gravity Falls was a pretty good fit." 

You nodded, seeing that Minie was dressed as Mabel, Asashi as Dipper, Ellie as Grunkle Stan, and Izzie as Wendy. "The kid's got a taste for what goes, man. I'm telling you. She's psychic or something, I swear."

"I'll believe whatever you say when you get over your mommy problems."

"Ouch. Harsh, man," you said, and placed a hand over your heart in mock hurt.

…

You both ended up laughing for about two minutes straight.

Even though you received some strange glances from your skeleton pals, they paid no mind to it. 

Looking around, you smiled at the fact that everyone was getting along. "Y'know, I'm kinda glad Ellie didn't scare everyone off. You guys all befriended each other so fast. And it's good that the guys have someone other than me to talk to."

"Do the cousins not have any other friends?" Izzie asked, raising an eyebrow.

You hesitated before shaking your head. "Well uh… I supposed they lived in a secluded part of the Underground, from what I heard. And they haven't exactly, befriended any of the other monsters, as far as I know."

The blonde nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I guess I could understand that."

Whew. Thank god.

You're pretty sure that was the best lie you ever told. You are horrid at lying.

"Mhm. It's interesting, to say the least, having them around the house a majority of the time. Though they are a really big help, so I guess it's not all that bad." You chuckled, before Izzie gave you a light elbow in the side.

“You like them, I can tell. I’m sure everything is gonna be fine with them living here.” She smirked slightly. “Besides, all of them seem to have an eye socket out for you, if you know what I mean.” Izzie proceeded to wiggle her eyebrows at you in a teasing manner. 

You were the one to elbow her this time, rolling your eyes at her antics. “C’mon, you know it’s not like that. They needed a place to live, and I had plenty of extra room. It’s just something I did.”

“Right. And I live with a family related by blood.” 

Your conversation was interrupted by the bell on your front door ringing, signalling that someone had come in. You looked over to see Toriel, Frisk, Undyne, Alphys, and Flowey, all dressed up in various costumes for trick or treating. 

“Hey guys!” You stood up, walking over to greet the group. “You all look pretty good! How have you been?”

Toriel, dressed up as a witch, greeted you with a warm hug, which you gladly accepted. After you broke apart, Frisk and Undyne both tackled you, literally, with hugs. You would’ve fallen over if it wasn’t for the fish lady’s unending strength.

“Hello you two. Glad you’re here!” you said, doing your best to hug them back.

“Thanks for inviting us, punk!” Undyne, dressed as Tuxedo Mask, cheerfully yelled in your ear. “This is our first Halloween, so it’d better be awesome!” Her excitement made you giddy about the fact that this was new to all of them.

Frisk, dressed as Sailor Uranus, started to sign at you—which you could loosely follow thanks to the child and Alphys giving you a crash course over the past few weeks that you’ve been hanging out with them—and you could make out the words “excited” and “cool”, along with some of the more basic phrases. You got the gist of it.

“Yeah, I can’t wait for you guys to go trick or treating. Don’t be afraid to just walk right up to the doors and knock, that’s what the holiday is for.” 

You were released from the crushing hug, then gave a small wave to Alphys, who was holding Flowey. She was dressed as Sailor Moon, which must have been the theme she, Frisk, and Undyne had decided to go with this year. For some reason Flowey had come without a costume, but you tried to pay no mind to his lack of Halloween spirit. “Hey Al! Nice to see you again. And hello Flowey, I hope you don’t mind being dragged along to Halloween.”

“It all seems like a bunch of crap,” Flowey spat, rolling his eyes at all of you. 

“Language!” Toriel and Papyrus said at the same time, Papyrus from across the room, and Toriel from right next to the flower.

You almost cackled at them.

Once everyone had taken a seat, you glanced around. Toriel, Frisk, Flowey, Alphys, and Undyne were all seated at a larger table with Sans and Papyrus standing nearby. Red and Edge had joined Izzie, Asashi, Minie, and Ellie at the table they had claimed, while Stretch and Blue were at a table by themselves. They had all split up into their respective groups, which you appreciated.

“Alright!” Clapping your hands, you silenced everyone in order to grab their attention. “To get introductions out of the way, I’m gonna just have y’all say your names and everything so you guys don’t have to introduce yourselves one on one. It's easier this way.” You looked at Izzie, gesturing for her to start.

She waved at everyone. “Hello, I’m Isabelle, you can call me Izzie. I’m (Y/n)’s best friend. Good to meet you all.” 

Minie piped up next, before you even said anything. “I’m Minie! It’s nice to meet you! Sorry if I have a hard time telling you guys apart- I’m not very good at seeing.” 

You looked to Asashi next.

“‘Sup, I’m Asashi. Don’t mind the sarcastic humor.”

After that, Ellie stood up from her seat to make an introduction. “Good evening, I’m Elizibeth. Please refer to me as Ellie! I’m the legal guardian to those crazies.” She gestured to Izzie, Asashi, and Minie.

“Alright. Toriel, would you like to go next?” You asked, smiling widely when the goat monster nodded.

“Hello, I am Toriel. It is nice to meet you all, and I hope we become well acquainted. If you need anything, feel free to ask!” Her tone was loving and warm. She then gestured to the child next to her. “And this is Frisk. They are selectively mute, so I am introducing them in their stead. Please refer to them with gender neutral pronouns.”

Frisk waved to everyone, before gesturing to Flowey.

Toriel laughed before taking Flowey from Alphys. “And this is Flowey, Frisk’s friend.”

Flowey scoffed at both Frisk and Toriel.

Undyne went next, puffing out her chest in excitement when she spoke. “Hey punks! I’m Undyne! Nice to meetcha! And this is my girlfriend, Alphys! She’s super smart!” The fish lady pulled the yellow lizard monster close. She always liked to brag about her girlfriend whenever the opportunity was presented. Alphys lit up in a bright red blush at Undyne’s introduction and gave a small wave.

You looked around, counting up everyone present, and nodded. “Seems like everyone introduced themselves. Okay, so now that we have that out of the way, I’ll reiterate what’s going on tonight,” you spoke loudly, making sure to project your voice so everyone could hear. “In a little while, we’re all gonna go trick or treating in separate groups, since all of us together would be a… bit too much." A few people chuckled, though Blue and Papyrus were slightly disappointed at not being able to trick or treat together, but they looked excited nonetheless. 

"After everyone’s done, we’ll meet up back here and chill for the rest of the night. That sound good to everyone?” You received a chorus of approvals and beamed. “Then, whenever you guys are ready to head out is good!”

You sat back down with Izzie, sighing a little bit in relief. “I think that’s the most people I’ve spoken to in a while. Jesus.”

The blonde next to you giggled, and patted you on the shoulder. “I’m proud.”

A tap on the shoulder caught your attention next. You turned to see Papyrus and Sans standing there, ready with bags and costumes. “Oh, hey guys. Are you heading out now?”

“YES! WE HAVE DECIDED THAT IN ORDER TO PLEASE LADY TORIEL, IT WOULD BE BEST TO EMBARK NOW!” Papyrus said, bouncing with excitement.

“mhm. the kid probably shouldn’t be out too late. any time you want us back?" Sans asked.

You glanced at the clock. "About two hours from now at the latest should be good.” You looked at Paps, who looked fantastic in his Luigi costume. The fake mustache taped to his face really amused you, for some reason. “If you guys get back before I do, make sure to pull out all the snacks and everything. I’m thinking that we can put on music and hang down here afterwards. Then, when everyone leaves, we can watch some Halloween movies upstairs.”

Both of the skeletons nodded, agreeing to your ideas. Papyrus opened his arms, and you stood up to hug him goodbye. It was brief, but nice. What surprised you though, was that Sans hugged you next. Usually he wouldn’t show affection so forwardly like that. 

What a pleasant surprise.

You bid them goodbye, and sat down with a slight blush dusting your cheeks. 

“I thought you said it wasn’t like “that”?” Izzie teased, a knowing look on her face. You punched her lightly on the shoulder, your face darkening to a crimson red at the comment.

“Shut it,” you mumbled in defeat.

After a few more minutes of talking, everyone else decided to start trick or treating as well. You bid goodbye to Red, Edge, Izzie and the others, then turned to Stretch and Blue. 

You gave a small bow to them, smiling. “Alright boys, I’ll be your escort this evening. Are you ready to get started?”

Stretch gave a thumbs up, and Blue jumped up in excitement. “YES! LET’S GET LOTS OF CANDY TONIGHT!” 

“no eating it in one sitting though, bro. it’s bad for your teeth.” Stretch commented, adjusting the hood on his Bulbasaur onesie. Blue dramatically sighed in response and turned towards his younger brother with his hands on his hips.

“I KNOW, PAPY! I’M NOT A BABYBONES ANYMORE! I AM FULLY CAPABLE OF TAKING CARE OF MYSELF!” 

“just makin’ sure. don’t wanna get a cavity like you did a few years ago.”

Well, that must’ve really sucked. “Ouch. Cavities are the worst, man.”

Blue visibly shuddered at the memory, clearly disturbed by it. “PLEASE DON’T REMIND ME OF MY IRRESPONSIBILITY. IT WASN’T MY BRIGHTEST MOMENT.”

Both you and Stretch laughed, but decided to drop it anyways. “Well, we should get going then. Paps, you remember where the spot I asked you to take us to is?” 

Stretch visibly brightened when you called him by his real name.

A little while after the others started to take some of the cafe workload off your shoulders, there had been an argument over the fact that the guys were getting a little sick of their nicknames. They were their own monster, after all, which was completely understandable. But it did get a little confusing when referring to one skeleton as Sans and getting three answers instead of the one.

You all had decided that one on one, with anyone who was comfortable with it, you could refer to them with their real names to give some sort of relief. 

Everyone was a lot happier after that.

“yeah, uh, i do. that where you wanna start?” he asked, raising a nonexistent brow.

“If it’s not too much trouble. I heard from Izzie that it’s one of the best neighborhoods to start in, and if we teleport there, we should be able to get a headstart.” You smiled. “After all, we’re the smallest group. We should be able to get there easier with only two people to teleport.” Your smile darkened at the idea of being able to beat out the competition for the most candy.

Stretch chuckled, before offering his hands out for both you and Blue to take as an answer. “well, i suppose that sounds good to me.”

Blue took it with no hesitation, but instead of taking his hand, you linked your arm with Stretch’s. You looked up at him and smiled. Stretch returned it with a lazy smile of his own.

“hold on tight.”

In a flash of orange, the three of you were standing at the entrance to a nice-looking suburban neighborhood. You moved to stand in front of them both. 

“So, to give a short run down, you go up to houses, ring the doorbell or knock, and yell “Trick or Treat” at the people who answer. In return, you get candy. Sound good?”

Blue raised his hand slightly, a confused look on his skull. “WHY DO WE DO THAT? IS THERE SOME SORT OF ORIGIN BEHIND HALLOWEEN?”

“Great question!” you said, then proceeded to explain the origins of Halloween. “See, back in the old days, this day was known as All Hallow’s Eve. People believed that it was a day that ghosts and ghouls could visit and wander the earth to terrorize people. In response to that, people started leaving out treats to please the spirits that wandered about during the night of Halloween. Then they decided to start dressing up as monsters and such to earn those treats."

“THAT’S VERY INTERESTING! HUMAN TRADITIONS ARE ALWAYS SO FASCINATING!” 

“Yup. The history behind all of our holidays are always somewhat interesting, at least. It’s pretty cool to learn about.” You glanced around, seeing that some people had already started to trick or treat. “What do you think, should we begin our little adventure?”

Receiving cheers from Blueberry and a thumbs up from Stretch, you smiled. Grabbing both of their hands, you dragged them forwards, towards the houses that awaited you. 

“Well then, let’s go!”

Your arms were starting to ache a little from the bag you were carrying, but you took this as a good thing, considering all the candy you had.

“That was really fun!” you said, and earned a hum in agreement from Stretch as you reached the end of the neighborhood.

“IT WAS AMAZING! AN EXPERIENCE WORTHY OF SOMEONE AS MAGNIFICENT AS ME!” Blue responded, bouncing excitedly due to the large amount of candy he had in his bag.

“I can’t believe we managed to get through the whole neighborhood in less than two hours. I’ve never managed to do that when I went with Izzie and them.” You paused, thinking for a moment. “Though that’s probably because there were five of us and a little kid involved.”

“that would make sense,” Stretch said, nodding.

You all stopped, trying to decide where to go next, since you still had a little bit of time before you needed to be home. 

“Excuse me, Miss!” You heard a young boy shout, catching your attention. He ran up to you guys, dressed up in a werewolf costume. “Do you have a moment? I need to ask you a question!” Based on his height and voice, he seemed to be in his late teens.

You gave him a smile. “Sure kid, what is it?”

“I was wondering how you got that much candy? I’ve been walking through the neighborhood all night, and haven’t been able to get nearly as much.” He held up his bag for emphasis, which was barely full in the first place.

“Well uh, me and my friends here have just been going door to door on every side of the street-”

Before you could finish your answer, the boy dropped his bag and snatched yours out of your grasp. You went to react, but he bolted down the street and yelled a thank you while he sprinted away.

“Oh dear,” you said, watching the kid run down the street.

Blue looked at you with wide eyes, waiting for a response from you. “WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?! WE WORKED SO HARD FOR THAT CANDY!”

“want me to go get him?” Stretch said, his demeanor slightly darkening now that something had happened.

You shook your head, still watching as the boy approached an intersection in the roads. “Nah. I’ll be right back.” 

Blue went to say something, but you cut him off by snatching the bag and taking off after the boy at a full on sprint. You had no problem running now, and wanted to test how far you could get now that you were healthy. Smirking at your newfound strength, you were easily able to turn the corner and see the boy a little ways up the street. 

He had slowed to a jog now, obviously not expecting anyone to go after him. 

“Hey kid! You forgot something!” 

He turned around to see you quickly approaching, and almost dropped your candy bag in disbelief. Before he could take off again, you pretty much threw yourself into him, and both of you crashed into the ground.

“How did you-?!” 

“I’m faster than I look, man, what can I say?” you answered with a chuckle. 

The boy took off his werewolf mask, revealing brilliant brown eyes and shaggy, dirty blonde hair. He looked astounded at what you just did. 

“I-I didn’t mean to! I swear! I just wanted some candy… Please don’t tell my mom about this!”

Well, that was a surprising one eighty. 

“Hey man, I dunno who your mom even is.” You cut him off softly, holding your hands up. “So I can’t tell her either way. I don’t even live here.” His look of fear dropped slightly at that.

“But,” you continued, and saw his shoulders stiffen slightly, “I can’t let go of the fact that you just tried to rob me of all my Halloween candy. You really shouldn’t go around doing that stuff. So, I’ll compromise with you.

“If you quit trying to take stuff from people when they earned it fair and square, I’ll split my candy with you. Sound like a deal?”

The boy glanced at your giant bag of candy on the ground, and then back at you, appearing to consider his options.

After a minute of thinking, he nodded. “... Okay. I won’t do it again. I’m really sorry.”

You chucked at him. “Good choice. I didn’t wanna end up having to spoil some kid’s night by reporting him to the police.” 

The boy laughed as well, though it wasn’t exactly humor-filled like yours was.

Standing up and dusting yourself off, you collected your bag and offered a hand to the blonde. He hesitated a moment before taking it, and you pulled him up. “What’s your name?”

“It’s uh.. Hadley. What’s yours…?”

“Well Hadley, my name is (Y/n). It’s a pleasure to meet you.” You pulled open your candy bag, gesturing for him to do the same. “Here, I can give you like, half my candy.”

He looked at you with wide eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah, it’s no problem,” you said, beginning to pour candy into Hadley’s bag. “Besides, I could never eat this much, even within the given year between Halloweens.”

“T-thank you so much!” he said, giving a bashful smile.

After splitting the candy, you glanced over at him. “Y’know, you remind me of a family friend of mine.” He tilted his head at you. “You’re a bit shy, but you seem like a cool guy to hang out with.”

He blushed slightly, but you continued.

“If uh… if you ever wanna talk again, you should come by my cafe. It’s over downtown. I’d be happy to give you a donut and we can chill there. How old are you?”

“Oh, I’m nineteen.”

Oh. 

Oh. 

You expected him to be a few years younger, you weren’t going to lie. “Oh, that’s cool! I’m actually twenty-two myself. We’re pretty close in age, huh?” 

He raised his eyebrows at the discovery of your age. “Yeah, I-I guess we are!”

You had an idea, and fished your phone from your costume’s pocket. “Do you wanna exchange numbers? I can give you the address to my cafe if you want to actually come down there.”

Hadley’s eyes lit up, and he nodded as he pulled his phone out. “That would be cool! My mom’s actually been telling me to get out more… so it would be a win-win.” 

“That sounds like a plan to me then.” You handed him your phone, the messenger app open. “Just put your number in and text yourself. Make sure you got it.” 

The blonde did as you said, and smiled when he checked his phone. He held it up for you to inspect. “Got it.”

You grinned from ear to ear and held your hand out for a fistbump, which Hadley gladly returned. The two of you chatted for a few minutes more, before you checked the time and saw that it was time to head back home with Stretch and Blue.

“Alright, well, I’d better get back to my friends. They’ve been waiting for a little bit now.” You laughed, and Hadley agreed with you. 

“My mom will probably want me back home too. I have some college work to get done before tomorrow, and I can’t complete a double major by slacking off, unfortunately.”

“Double major? Damn. Good luck with that,” you said, and the two of you bid goodbye to each other. Hadley started to head off, and you turned to go back to where Stretch and Blue were, only to be met with Stretch right behind you, causing you to jump.

“Jesus! Paps, don’t do that. You almost scared me half to death.” You glanced around. “Where did Sans go?” 

“i took him back to the cafe. you were takin’ so long, i almost thought you got lost or somethin’. came to look for you.” He looked past you to see Hadley walking off in the distance. “that the kid who stole your candy?”

“Uh huh. His name is Hadley. He’s pretty chill, actually. We talked for a little bit and even exchanged numbers. How cool is that?”

Stretch was taken aback for a moment. “really? why?”

You paused, considering his question. “He seemed like a great guy once I talked to him. It was just a little misunderstanding, I suppose.”

After a moment, the skeleton broke into a laugh. 

“Eh?! What’s that for?!”

Stretch took a moment to calm down before speaking. “it... heh, it’s nothin’, kid. i’m just really surprised, is all.” He wiped the corner of his eye sockets, where orange tears had started to form. “didn’t take you as the type that made friends easily.”

You scoffed at him. “Hey, I can make friends whenever I want! I just… don’t get out much. Not when I have the cafe to run, anyways.”

He laughed once more, and you pouted in response. 

You turned away dramatically, and Stretch ruffled your hair. “c’mon, my bro's probably wonderin’ where we are.”

The monster held out his arm for you, to link together with yours like you did earlier. You took it with little hesitation. “I suppose we should. But you owe me one for laughing at me.”

“whatever you say.”

You were once again thrown into the weightless feeling that usually came with the ‘shortcuts’ the lazy brothers took, and appeared in the cafe. You were met with Sans, Papyrus, Frisk, Flowey, Red and his group, and Blue. Frisk, Minie, Flowey, Blue, and Papyrus were seated at a table, chatting away, while everyone else had pulled a couple tables together so they could all sit and eat the treats that you presumed Paps had pulled out for everyone, like you had told him to.

“Hey guys! Glad to see you were able to start without a problem.” You noticed a few faces missing. “Where did Toriel, Al, and Undyne go?”

Sans was the first to chime in. “alphys and undyne went to do couples stuff, while tori went home to check on the pie she had baked earlier. she said to bring the kid and the flower back before it gets too late.”

“Ah, okay.” You wandered over to the table, seeing that there were two seats open for you and Stretch. You sat down with Sans to your left and Stretch to your right, and glanced over to the other table. “I see they all hit it off quite well.” 

Ellie chuckled, nodding. “Yeah, it’s good to see that Minie has been able to make some new friends. I’ll have to thank Blue and Papyrus later for hanging out with her, and make sure to get Toriel’s number. Minie and Frisk were talking about having playdates just ten minutes into meeting one another.”

“That’s awesome.” You smiled, but inside you were cackling at them. You had a feeling that the two children would get along well. “By the way, how did trick or treating go for you guys?” 

Asashi was the first to answer you. “It went pretty well, actually. No one ended up falling down a steep hill this time, which is good.” 

“I thought we agreed not to talk about that, Asashi.” You shot him a warning glance, flushing slightly, and then mumbled, “We don’t talk about the ice incident.”

Isabelle and Ellie both laughed, while Asashi gave a cheeky grin. 

“th’ hell is the ‘ice incident’?” Red asked, one of his nonexistent brows raising in confusion.

“NO WE DON’T ASK ABOUT IT-” 

“Oh!” Ellie said, blatantly cutting you off mid yell. “See, when (Y/n) first moved here, it had snowed on Halloween, which isn’t an uncommon thing. But it was (Y/n)’s first time trick or treating, and she didn’t have any previous experience with it. So, when we took her around, she eventually ran ahead and up a hill in her excitement. Though, what she didn’t realize was that the ground on the hill was covered in ice.”

You groaned, burying your face in your hands. Oh god.

Ellie continued nonetheless. “She ended up slipping when she got to the top, and was sent down the hill straight into a bush! She wasn’t majorly hurt, but her top got caught on a branch and was ripped to shreds. We had to take her back home with only a shawl covering her that Isabelle had brought with us. Luckily, it wasn’t freezing, or there would’ve been big trouble!”

“Why am I even friends with you people?” You practically slammed your head on the table, and received a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from Sans.

Red, on the other hand, was busy laughing his ass off with Asashi. 

Nice to know you had their sympathy.

After about two hours of talking, joking around, and playing a few games that you had dug out from god knows where, you glanced at the time. “Hey, what time do you guys have to be home? It’s about ten thirty now.”

Isabelle thought for a moment, then looked to Ellie. “I dunno, what time do you think, Mom? Minie and Asashi do have school tomorrow. I also have the opening shift…” Isabelle sighed slightly at the thought of having to be up at five am sharp to open the store.

Ellie stood up, grabbing her coat that was hanging from the back of her chair, and readjusted the fez she had worn with her costume. 

“I suppose we should get going now.” Ellie looked at you. “Thank you for having us over, dear. It was a blast this year spending time with you and the boys.” She rounded the table, giving you a hug before gathering up Minie. Asashi gave you your usual high five, and Izzie gave you a quick hug before they all headed off. 

When they made their exit, you double checked the lock on the front door before turning to everyone that was left. 

“Alright, you guys wanna go upstairs now? There should be enough room for everyone to sit in the living room.” 

Blue jumped up, nodding in agreement. “THAT SOUNDS LIKE A MAGNIFICENT IDEA! WE CAN BEGIN THE HALLOWEEN MOVIE MARATHON!”

“i should go bring the kid and the flower back first, but then we can start,” Sans said, which caused Frisk to visibly pout.

“Come on Frisk, it’s not like spending time with these smiley trashbags is any fun in the first place,” Flowey spat, “and the human here isn’t all that special either.” 

You rolled your eyes at the flower, knowing that he was probably just saying things. Probably.

“It was nice to have the two of you over,” you said, offering a warm smile as Frisk ran over to give you a hug. “I hope you guys enjoyed Halloween!” 

The child signed a few things to you, most of which you caught—something about you coming to visit them soon for the upcoming holidays—then bid you goodbye. Sans told you that he’d be right back, and set off to return Frisk and Flowey back to Toriel before it got too late.

Everyone made their way upstairs after all the food and such was cleaned up, and you absolutely collapsed into Edge’s chair. Your legs and feet were aching from all the walking and running you did tonight.

Edge went to protest, but when he saw how exhausted you looked, he shut his mouth and found another place to sit. You felt a rush of relief and gratitude that he was allowing you to use his chair for the night, since you were too worn out to argue.

“seems like you’re pretty bone tired tonight, huh?” Stretch pointed out, plopping onto the right hand side of the couch. Red settled down in the middle, and Papyrus took the left side. “i can only imagine it was from running after the kid who stole your candy.”

“SOMEONE STOLE YOUR CANDY?” Papyrus asked.

“Yeah. It’s all cool now, though. I actually got his number, so you guys might meet him soon. He seemed like a pretty nice guy,” you said, but it was muffled from sticking your face into the soft cushioning of the chair that you were laying across.

“THAT SOUNDS LIKE A TERRIBLE IDEA,” Edge commented, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“What can I say? I endorse bad ideas all the time. Every once in a while they turn out pretty well.”

“RIGHT.”

Blue was next to chime in. “I BELIEVE MAKING NEW FRIENDS IS A WONDERFUL IDEA! IT’S ALWAYS NICE TO HAVE NEW PEOPLE TO TALK TO AND HANG OUT WITH.”

“I AGREE. HE’S PROBABLY REALLY NICE!” Papyrus remarked, even though he hasn’t even met the kid.

“He was. A little shy at first, but really nice and smart.”

“having friends other than us? couldn’t be our human,” Red said, chuckling. 

“Wh-” You popped up from the chair to look at Red. “I’m not that-”

“not our human at all, obviously,” Stretch joined in, “i could never imagine that. our human stays in the cafe and makes delicious sweets.”

“Oh come on. Now you’re just flat out lying.” You rolled your eyes. “I don’t stay in the cafe all the time. Though I do make some damn good food.”

“damn right you do,” Red said, pointing at you for emphasis. “i don’t go down and steal a donut everyday just cause i can. they’re some of the best things i’ve had.”

“You do what now?”

“don’t worry about it, blue set me up with a tab.”

Edge groaned, “NOT ANOTHER TAB.”

You narrowed your eyes at Red. “Is this just gonna go unpaid for as long as you’re here?” 

Before the skeleton could come up with an excuse, Sans appeared by the door, kicking the sneakers that Papyrus made him wear off and exchanged them for his slippers. “heya.” 

“JUST IN TIME, SANS!” Papyrus said, jumping up from where he sat. “WE CAN NOW COMMENCE THE MOVIE MARATHON!”

You shot a look to Red that said “this isn’t over”, but dropped the topic nonetheless. “Alrighty, let’s get this show on the road. What do we wanna watch?”

Everyone in the room shouted out an answer, except you and Sans. 

“Uh… So what movie?” you asked once more, and everyone looked at each other, waiting for someone to speak so they wouldn’t talk over one another again.

“personally, ‘m all for watching some slasher movies,” Red piped up first, but was quickly shot down by Papyrus and Blue.

“WE WANT TO WATCH MONSTER HOUSE! IT LOOKS REALLY INTERESTING!” Papyrus spoke for the both of them.

“YOU COWARDS. IT’S OBVIOUS THAT WE SHOULD WATCH A REAL HORROR MOVIE, LIKE THE CONJURING OR SOMETHING FROM STEPHEN KING,” Edge said, scrolling through his phone. You had to be honest, he probably spent hours trying to figure out what “real horror” was up here after watching Friday the 13th.

“Oh boy, my favorite,” you grumbled slightly, remembering the first time you’d watched The Conjuring with Izzie. You locked eyes with Stretch. “Any input here?”

He shrugged. “i’ll go with whatever my bro chooses. i don’t have a preference, really.”

“Monster House it is!” you said, and the edgy skeleton scoffed. He went to walk off, but you stopped him by grabbing his wrist. “We can watch some of your movies after, don’t worry. Your choices won’t be left out.”

Edge was rendered speechless, his cheekbones lit up in a bright red blush. He snatched his arm away before storming off in frustration. 

You chuckled, “He’s gotten a lot better, wouldn’t you say, Red?”

The gold toothed skeleton hummed in agreement. “yeah, actually. he woulda punted anyone other than me out the window if they dared to even touch him.”

“it’s a miracle,” Stretch mused.

“We’re gonna start the movie, Edge! You can have your chair back!” you called, and slid onto the floor as if you were a pile of goop. You had no intention of using what remaining energy you had left to actually stand up and move somewhere else, so you remained there at the foot of the chair, curled up and facing the TV.

“GOOD GRIEF. YOU’RE UNBEARABLE,” Edge said as soon as he came back in and saw you, but he left you to your own devices. He merely stepped over you and took a seat.

“IS EVERYONE READY TO BEGIN THE MOVIE?” Papyrus inquired.

“yep, everyone’s ready bro,” Sans said, now sitting on the couch next to Red. “go ahead and start it.”

Papyrus did as his brother said, then took a seat on the floor next to you. 

And so, the movie started. 

You really wished you had the energy to sit through it, though.

Unfortunately, you had only been awake for fifteen minutes of it until the exhaustion you had been holding at bay caught up to you. Once the movie was over, you heard distant chuckles as someone carried you upstairs to your bedroom, where you could properly rest.

You smiled slightly. This had been a nice Halloween. Hopefully everyday could be like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bOOM HALLOWEEN SPECIAL  
> But it's also plot-relevant so I meeeeaaaan
> 
> Happy Halloween! 
> 
> (Follow my tumblr, the blog name is hailee's hidey hole)


	16. Intermission

Hey y'all! My apologies for not uploading for a couple of months! I am still very much so alive and taking some time for the holidays and just destressing. I'll make sure that I start 2021 off with a chapter though, so please expect that from me. Thank you for enjoying my story so far, and I hope that you continue to as long as I'm writing it. Bye bye for now!


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